


The Misleading Nature of Unicorns

by sailorchiron



Series: Fairytales [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Past Relationship(s), True Love, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-05-07 16:53:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 95,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14675379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorchiron/pseuds/sailorchiron
Summary: Victor dreams of his happily ever after.  Unicorns are involved.  But everyone knows that unicorns are really stupid.Yuuri has no idea what's going on, but he's pretty sure he doesn't remember asking for any of this.  Especially the unicorns.No one thought to ask the unicorns how they felt.EDIT: If you're not sure about reading because, like, every ship is listed, don't worry.  I don't explore them, they just exist in the background.  This story is about Victor and Yuuri.





	1. In which Victor avoids being a prince (and finds unicorns)

**Author's Note:**

> I should never have watched Yuri On Ice (twice). I'm now obsessed with these ridiculous skating boyfriends and this fic just happened. And continues to happen.
> 
> I'll try to post regularly, but my muggle job sometimes makes it hard to keep up with writing. Don't worry, though, I won't leave them hanging, after all, this is all about Victor getting his happily ever after.
> 
> There shouldn't be anything triggering in this fic, it's like 95% fluff. Unless you're tragically offended by insulting unicorns.

Sunlight was filtering through the leaves, turning the light on the path to a warm green-gold. The breeze was just cool enough to keep Victor from sweating, but soft enough to prevent a chill. The signs of summer were all over, and he was hunting.

Or, well, pretending to hunt. At least that was the excuse he’d given for saddling Rose and sneaking out the back gate of the palace grounds and galloping into the forest. In reality, he was avoiding anything related to being a prince. And he had no desire to kill anything, he hated hunting. 

Rose worked off her restless energy (in that way she was like her owner), and slowed to a walk on the path. It was wide and regularly cleared, and went straight through to the farms on the other side, about a two-hour ride at a fast walk. He was in the New Forest right now; few people ever passed across the strangely sudden division between New and Old. The Old Forest was uncanny. Legend had it that the trees and creatures had rebelled against the attempts to clear it, and a hundred years ago the New Forest had been planted to appease them. People who went in to travel to the farms remained on the path, and didn’t even pull out a bow, let alone hunt. There were streams that crossed the path that were safe to drink – those had carefully sculpted fords and little stone bridges. There were more that were not safe, marked by tall banks and Red Kiss climber vines. No one still living knew what the water did, and no one wanted to find out.

As he often did when he was “hunting,” Victor was daydreaming as Rose went from patch to patch of grass beside the road. She was remarkably smart horse and didn’t need much guidance. She was also enchantingly lovely, with a silver coat that matched Victor’s own hair, and a subtle dapple that made her seem to shimmer in the sunlight. When his mother had gifted her to him, she’d been wreathed in rare Sapphire Sky roses, and the name had stuck.

Victor’s contemplation of the perfect weather and the beauty of his surroundings slowly devolved into a familiar feeling of dissatisfaction with life in general. His family was beloved by the kingdom – a very wealthy and prosperous kingdom with a lot of allies – and there were expectations for him that he was very tired of living up to. 

_If I have to sit through one more audience, or once more banquet, or one more tedious concert, I’ll just die. Just fall over dead. Then what would they do? Put it on my gravestone “here lies Prince Victor, literally bored to death” and put someone else in charge?_ And those weren’t even _daily._ Court dinner and the “amusements” in the ballroom after (where every young person at court just _had_ to be) were pure torture. At 27, Victor could _technically_ join the older members of court in lesser audience chambers and reception rooms, but talking about the economics of arranging marriages and the politics of keeping mistresses hidden was definitely not his thing. The previous week his best friend, the prince of their nearest neighbor and closest ally, had arrived at court for the summer, and even _Chris_ wasn’t holding his attention or brightening his mood.

Rus had the most opulent palace, and the best weather, of all of their allies, and it wasn’t unusual for dignitaries from all over to come visit for the summer. He loved Chris. But more and more he was escaping rather than talking.

The truth was, even with the constant bustle of court, Victor was lonely, and he wanted to wallow in his misery.

 _I want to have someone who’s just mine, who loves me for me, not for the crown. Someone with no agenda of his own, who I can love without restrictions. And who won’t have to marry someone for a title in his own country._ Victor desperately wanted to fall in love. And be loved. And live happily ever after.

During his self-pitying reverie, Victor lost track of where Rose was going, but when he looked around, he saw the light had changed. Without knowing it, they’d entered the Old Forest. His brain told him to turn around immediately, turn back and head home, no matter how boring home was. But his petulant heart urged him to explore the gloomy path and see what he could find to distract himself.

Soft, furtive noises rustled through the undergrowth to either side of the road. Victor could hear the melodic, bell-like sounds of water trickling outside his line of sight. Once, he caught a glimpse of something large and white rushing beneath the branches, but it was gone so quickly he wondered if he’d imagined it. A shiver ran down his spine as a list of uncanny creatures rumored to live in the Old Forest started to flood his brain. Things like gnomes, and rusalkas, and kelpies, and trolls. Some people swore the souls of those killed by the forest haunted the trees and that the strange floating lights that appeared at night were the spirits trying to draw travelers to their deaths.

Speaking of strange light, there was a strange light up ahead that caught Victor’s attention; were as the gloom surrounding him was darkly green, a glow of silvery blue was peeking out from the shadows left of the path a hundred yards or so from where he stood. He urged Rose into a fast walk but after a few feet she shied sideways, tossing her head.

“Shh, it’s alright,” Victor whispered, afraid to disturb the denizens of the forest by raising his voice. “Just a little further.” He tapped her sides, and she whinnied and reared just a little. Rose was clearly not going forward. Patting her neck soothingly, he murmured “Okay, okay, you don’t have to go.” He dismounted and lead her to the bushes to the side of the path, then tied her reins to a sturdy branch. He left enough slack that she could munch if she wanted, but doubted she’d eat when she was nervous. With a deep breath, he continued on foot.

As Victor grew closer to the light, the air chilled, until his cotton shirt and summer-weight leathers weren’t enough to keep him warm. Mist was swirling in graceful eddies through the massive trunks of the ancient trees, amplifying the cold, white glow. It was like the brightest moonlight he’d ever seen, and it was entrancing. Some rational corner of his mind was telling him that he absolutely _could not_ step off that path, but Victor was really good at being irrational, so he jumped down onto the dark grass and pushed through the glossy leaves lining the road.

Surprisingly, the way cleared after only a few feet of rough foliage, and opened into a wide meadow. A forest giant had fallen, taking three of its brethren with it, and grass and flowers had filled the space. The source of the mysterious light was on the far side.

As he drew nearer, the grass began to crunch, and he looked down to see that hard frost lining the blades and the petals of flowers for which he had no name. The air was noticeably colder, and Victor shivered, but kept walking.

The source of the light was a pond.

“Ponds don’t typically glow,” Victor whispered to himself. He immediately wondered if this was a rusalka’s pond, and was about to be murdered for his transgressions against women (not that he had any but uncanny dead girls in ponds didn’t always listen).

At what should have been the edge of the water, he abruptly discovered that it was actually glowing ice. Ice also typically did not glow. Other than the light from the frozen water, it was pitch black.

In the center of the frozen pond, which appeared to be unnaturally round, there was a table or something. An altar? A bed? And it looked like someone was on it. His curiosity went into full gallop from the trot that had gotten him here.

 _If this was a fairytale, that would be a sleeping princess waiting for a kiss._ Granted, no fairy tale he’d ever read included a frozen pond with an altar in the middle.

A crash sounded through the shrubs across the pond, and Victor looked up. A luminous white shape moved into view.

A unicorn.

More noise to his right alerted him to the arrival of another snowy creature, cold light sparkling on its spiraling horn. Another unicorn slowly stepped into the circle of light.

Unicorns wouldn’t come near him if they could help it for obvious reasons (thank you Chris) (and others), but they could, and would, attack him to defend the honor of the princess on the pond. He raised his hands in a placating motion.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go, I’ll just turn and walk away now.” Victor hoped his tone was soothing enough to keep the unicorns at bay. He walked backwards, looking from creature to creature, until he tripped in a hole and almost fell. After that, he turned and hurried as fast as a terrified, non-virgin prince could hurry to get away from being skewered. He shoved his way through the shrubs and climbed up to the road. He almost ran back to where Rose was staring down the path at him and stamping her hooves.

Rose had never been so happy to see him. Victor mounted in haste and turned her toward home. “Let’s go, Rosie, no more frozen princesses for us today.” She was so eager to escape that she moved into a canter of her own volition, and Victor just held onto the reins.

Near the edge of the New Forest, the sun seemed to thaw Victor’s frozen brain. “There must be a witch or a wizard involved in this, but don’t they have to register with the Mage’s Union or something? I suppose an evil sorceress probably wouldn’t follow the rules. Is it a curse? What can a princess do to end up on an altar in the middle of a frozen pond in a haunted forest?” Victor’s musings took him all the way across the cultivated “meadow” to the rear gate of the palace complex. “Maybe one of the mages at court has heard of this?” He’d ask around. Maybe. He kind of wanted to explore more before being told not to. _It’s easier to beg pardon than ask permission._

Bedding down Rose for the night was one of the more methodical and relaxing parts of Victor’s day. He always groomed her himself, having been taught at a very young age that he would always be responsible for animals he had tamed. Makkachin, the light of his life, always received personal care, too. Makka was the best dog. No arguments otherwise would be heard.

He also cared for Rose’s tack himself. He’d commissioned beautiful blue leather worked with roses for her. It was ridiculously extravagant, and had cost him three months of his allowance, and he didn’t care. She was worth it. And it might be the same color as his eyes, but that was a _total_ coincidence. 

The bells chimed as he was trotting in through the kitchen door, and Victor swore fervently for a moment, he only had an hour to make himself presentable for dinner. The longer daylight hours had kept him from realizing how late it was. “Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!”

There was already a hot bath drawn for him when reached his rooms. “Alexei, you’re amazing.”

His valet chuckled. “Saw you riding in when I was in the tower avoiding your cousin.”

Victor stopped mid-step into the tub. “Which cousin?”

“Master Yuri, of course. You’re going to fall, Victor, get all the way into the bath.”

Alexei had been Victor’s valet since he was 12, and they’d done away with “your majesty” and “your highness” a long time ago. He also seemed psychic to Victor because he anticipated his needs so often. And he had one skill that was indispensable. 

“The water is perfect. Thank all the gods for magic.” Most magic was beyond Alexei’s abilities, but water-heating and candle-lighting were well within his power.

“You’re welcome,” Alexei laughed. “I laid out clothes on your bed. Hopefully Makkachin isn’t sleeping on them.”

“Don’t care. Makka is more important than anyone at court. His fur is a blessing.” In reality, Makkachin really didn’t shed much at all. Or sleep on his clothes. Often.

Normally Victor lounged in the bath for as long as possible (a valet who could reheat the water was absolute heaven), and he was definitely annoyed that tonight he didn’t have that luxury. He scrubbed off the horse and forest smells clinging to his hair and skin, and got out.

Alexei had left one of his favorite warm-weather dinner outfits for him, a blue silk shirt that matched his eyes and lightweight grey trousers with a matching waistcoat, both in a fabric that defied logic in its softness and scant weight. Not to mention it made his ass look fantastic. It was too hot in the dining room or ballroom for a tie, sadly, as he had one that looked sublime with this ensemble.

Victor’s indispensable valet reappeared to whisper a spell that dried his hair. Soon it was styled to perfection (looking like it hadn’t been styled and was just naturally perfect). 

“I love magic.”

“Hmm, I know, you’re lucky to have such a talented valet.”

“I truly am.” Victor stood from his seat at the dressing table. “Duty calls.”

As was their tradition, Alexei gave him a hug. “It will be alright.”

If Chris was his best friend, Alexei was a very close second. “Thank you.” No matter how old he got, that gentle reassurance that he’d survive dinner calmed him. He was ready to turn on the charm at the door.

Victor strolled down the corridors like he didn’t have a care in the world, but internally he was ruminating on the day’s events. He’d have a chance to tell Chris about the frozen pond and the princess at dinner. Before he entered the dining room, he assumed his Prince Victor, Heir to the Throne, persona and joined the important people at the high table. His father would be announced and enter last, but nearly everyone was already seated. Any member of the court could take dinner in the large, over-the-top dining room with the royal family. He waited impatiently for Chris to appear.

And groaned as his cousins Yuri and Mila sat down next to him.

“Good evening, cousins.” Victor smiled sweetly. It wasn’t their fault that he had no desire to see them.

“Fuck off.” Yuri was 15 and angry at the world.

“Lovely to see you, too.”

Mila leaned in to kiss Victor’s cheek. “Why, Victor, you look specially dashing tonight.”

“You look beautiful, darling.” Mila was extremely pretty, with wavy hair that she magically tinted from auburn to a pinkish wine. Her soft gold diaphanous gown displayed her figure to the fullest.

“Would you both shut the fuck up?”

“Yuri, I know rude is your normal state of being, but why so violent tonight? It doesn’t suit your pretty face at all.”

Victor and Mila both looked up and smiled. “Prince Christophe! How wonderful to see you!” Mila bubbled, exchanging cheek kisses with the handsome blond.

Chris released Mila to lean over and hug Victor in his chair. “Haven’t seen you all day,” he murmured suggestively.

Christophe was an extremely sensual and flirtatious man. He had been Victor’s friend and confidant since Chris was eight and Victor ten, and had been…more than friends in adolescence (Victor highly recommended exploring one’s sexuality with someone you could trust implicitly), but their closeness had never developed into a romance. And Victor had it on excellent authority that all of Chris’s flirtations were for show – he was in love with a man in his household, and they had been devoted to each other for nearly three years.

“I have so much to tell you,” Victor purred. _About a glowing frozen pond guarded by unicorns._

“You are so fucking disgusting.”

Chris smiled and blew a kiss to Yuri. “Smile, it suits your lovely, elfin features, Yura.” He moved to his seat on the other side of Mila.

Yuri and Mila were both Victor’s cousins, but not from the same side – it was coincidence that they’d arrived the same day. Yuri was the king’s sister’s son, and currently Victor’s heir. Mila was the late queen’s niece. She was fiercely independent and had rejected every offer for her hand. She was also a deadly swordswoman, and could lift petite Yuri over head with little effort. 

Conversation stilled as the trumpets heralded the king’s arrival. Everyone rose, and Victor watched as a man he hardly knew, but was forced to call his father, marched in his stately fashion to the high table. Anton Nikiforov was well-liked by his people for his fair-handed justice and advantageous economic policies, but no one would ever accuse him of being jovial or light-hearted. The warmth he showed the populace was an act. In person he was cold and distant.

When he’d been younger, Victor had wanted nothing more than to draw his father’s eye, and earn his love and praise. He’d despaired of his light hair and eyes – his mother’s legacy – thinking he’d garner more attention if he looked more like the son Anton wanted. He’d been the best Victor he could be, but that would never be enough. Now he viewed the king with a kind of detachment, like Anton was just someone he’d met at court. He’d bestowed all of the love his father could have had on his swordmaster, Yakov. He doubted his father would acknowledge him, or anyone to his right, at all at dinner. To his left were men of political power, to whom he would speak about business matters throughout the meal. Every meal was a working meal for King Anton. Victor was fairly certain his father had no idea what fun or relaxation were. 

Dinner was excruciating. All Victor could think about was the magical forest and nearly dying a tragic, horn-related death. Mila was teasing Chris about his vague boasts of sexual conquests and Yuri was sitting silently, stabbing his food like it had personally wronged him.

“Yura, why did you come here if you hate it so much?”

Yuri glared at him. “Mother made me.”

Victor frowned. “Is there anything you actually like?”

“Winter. Not being hot. Skating. Not being here.”

“I can’t help you there. I wish I could.”

Yuri shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Maybe you can move to a cold country when you’re older.”

“Whatever.”

It bothered Victor that his cousin was so unhappy. Maybe he could involve him in the princess mystery. He’d pretend to be bored, of course. “Do you want to go riding with Chris and I tomorrow?”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “You’re disgusting together.”

“Not always!”

“Why don’t you just get married already?”

Victor smiled a little sadly. “He’s in love with someone else, and I’m not in love with him.” _I don’t have anyone to be in love with._

“Why do you act like you’re fucking all the time?”

“So people don’t now Chris is devoted to a commoner and not going to produce any heirs _or_ marry advantageously.” 

A look of extreme skepticism formed on Yuri’s face. “You expect me to believe that you and Chris have never slept together?”

“Well, no,” Victor replied, uncomfortable. “We, um, have been intimate before, but Chris and his beau have been together for three years.”

“Are they going to get married?” Yuri was looking down, trying to hide his concern from the prince.

“I hope so. His parents are kind, and he has a brother. It’s hard on him that they can’t be together publicly. He says it’s hard for Tristan, too.”

“I hate that they have to hide like that,” Yuri mumbled.

“I hope you never have to.” He had a thought. “I nearly always visit Chris for a month or two in the winter. Come with me this year, the skating opportunities are fantastic. And skiing if you like it. Also lots of hot cocoa.”

“Maybe.” He sounded uninterested but a small smile was on his lips. 

Dinner _finally_ ended, and the court dispersed to various amusements throughout the palace. Victor and Chris reunited near the dining room doors, and they linked arms. “I have the most unbelievable story to tell you,” Victor murmured.

“Do tell.”

They strolled down the hall, greeting people who wanted their attention with professional charm. “I went for a ride this afternoon.”

“Hmm, I know. I missed you.”

“You were glad you had time with Tristan and you know it.”

“Maybe.” Chris tried to suppress a soppy smile. “I love him so much, Victor.”

“I know. I’m so happy for you.”

“So what happened during your ride?” 

Victor leaned close. “I lost track of time and ended up in the Old Forest. Totally Rose’s fault.”

“Uh huh.”

“Anyway, you know it’s really dark under the trees, but I saw this white light and had to go find out what it was.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “This sounds like a really bad idea.”

“No it was an amazing idea. There was this meadow with a pond. The pond was glowing. But it was frozen.”

“How was it frozen? It’s June!”

“No idea. Anyway, there was like an altar or a bed in the middle of the pond. And someone on it. I’m assuming it was a princess under a spell.”

Chris stopped, interrupting the flow of traffic into the ballroom. After a moment, Victor tugged him out of the way. “I’m not lying, I promise.”

“No, I know you’re not.”

“Then a bunch of unicorns came out of the forest and looked like they were going to attack me. I left after that.”

“Obviously unicorns aren’t going to like you,” Chris chuckled.

“I know! But they were obviously protecting the princess.”

Servants were circulating with champagne and lemonade, and they both availed themselves of the first one. The entertainment was setting up, it appeared to be some sort of music. Victor and Chris sighed in unison. At least it wasn’t a play. Those were always so tedious. They both sipped champagne, smiling professionally as a cluster of young ladies in floating summer gowns approached them.

“Prince Victor, Prince Christophe, why are you in a corner?” the clear leader asked, tittering falsely. “Your court begs your attention.”

“We would be happy to keep you company,” simpered another, a busty blonde.

Victor smothered a smile as Chris lowered his eyelids and pursed his lips, assuming his romantic “bedroom” face. “Mmm, that sounds lovely, but Victor has graciously offered to keep me company this evening.” He suggestively slid his arm around Victor, stopping just shy of fondling his ass. “You know how close we are.”

Two of the girls looked disappointed. One looked disgusted (she must be new to court, where everyone was sleeping with everyone else), and three were visibly aroused. Victor moved closer to his friend, gazing at him like he was the answer to his sexual prayers. “We have so much to…discuss.” 

One of the girls, a brunette in a gown cut so low it nearly exposed her nipples, started to speak, but was interrupted by a gong sounding to announce the entertainment for the evening. “Please, we beg the attention of the fairest court, as famous soprano, Ekaterina Pavlova, performs a selection of arias and popular songs for your amusement. Please welcome Madame Pavlova.”

The court clapped politely. Opera was unlikely to hold the attention of the younger members of court. Hopefully that meant the covey of noble quail in pastel dresses would get bored enough to go away. “I have heard Madame Pavlova several times,” Victor mentioned to the girls. “She’s amazing. But it’s considered very rude to speak while she sings. No dancing tonight, I’m afraid.”

As the clapping quieted, the singer began the soprano aria from the opera _Tales of a Sleeping Prince._ “This is one of my favorites.” Within a few moments, the cluster of girls drifted away. “Thank all the gods.” Victor and Chris disengaged from each other. Both of them were physically affectionate people, but sensual snuggling was a bit much. 

“Anyway, I want you to come with me to see the princess tomorrow. I might invite Yuri.”

Chris looked at him, obviously intrigued. “And get killed by unicorns?”

“They’re so stupid, they can’t possibly be successful at attacking both of us.” It was a well-known fact that unicorns had the brain power of especially inbred lap dogs. Many mages could speak to animals, and were always amused to relate the dumb things that unicorns would say.

“Victor, have you considered what you’re going to _do_ with a princess? Typically you kiss them to wake them up, then fall in love and get married. And you’re gay.”

Victor’s enthusiasm hit a brick wall. He hadn’t thought about that. “Okay, that’s a valid consideration.” 

“I certainly don’t want a princess. I’m also gay. And Tristan would be very disappointed.”

They were silent for a few moments, clapping absently when Madame Pavlova finished her performance. They waited while they announced that her next song would be an art piece called _In Regards to Love: Agape._

“Just come with me to see the pond. We can leave if the unicorns are aggressive.”

Chris sighed. “Alright. But you’ll owe me.” He said that in his sensual voice.

Victor chuckled. “You can’t help it. Everything you say is an innuendo.”

“It’s such a habit with you.”

A wistful expression on Victor’s face made Chris laugh. “Ah, the days of our extremely amorous youth.”

“Have you taken any lovers since Tristan and I met?” Chris looked concerned. “I know how much you crave being touched.”

It was true. Victor needed cuddling more than actual sex. “One or two.”

Chris looked concerned. “One or two? In three years?”

Victor shook his head. “No-strings-attached lovers have palled.” He was intensely jealous of Chris falling in love. “And most people that want to sleep with me are too intimidated to meet all of my needs.”

“Hmm, I understand that. Tristan’s boldness was one of the things that drew me to him.” They both enjoyed both giving and taking when making love. 

They both clapped when the song ended. “Do you think we’ve been here long enough?” Victor was too restless to listen to opera, no matter how beautiful. The next aria was _Song to the Moon_ from an opera called _Rusalka._ It was gorgeous, but he was ready to go.

“I’m sure. Come to my rooms, Tristan would like to see you.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. He’s fond of you.” 

“I’m fond of _him._ He so obviously loves you.”

Chris smiled, a little bashful (which was very out of character). “He does. Sometimes I wake up next to him and wonder how on earth I got so lucky. He loves _me,_ not Prince Christophe, Heir to the Throne and sex god.”

“He probably loves the sex god part, Chris.”

“Do you think I’m a sex god?”

“You’re a beast in bed, Chris.” Victor wasn’t even exaggerating. As much time as they’d spent in bed together over the years, they’d also spent plenty of time in _other_ beds when they weren’t together. Chris was passionate and skilled, and fun in bed. Or in any of the places they’d desecrated. 

Chris always had the best guest suite in the palace. Even if he hadn’t been Victor’s best friend, Schweiz was Rus’s strongest ally and therefor deserved the most luxurious appointments possible. They moved directly into the sitting room, where all of the windows were open to the cool, flower-scented air. Tristan was already there, curled up in an overstuffed chair with a book. He looked up and smiled when they walked in. 

“Hello.” He didn’t stand up, and Chris leaned over to give him a lingering kiss. He hummed happily, then reached out for a one-armed hug with Victor. “So good to see you, Victor.”

“Are you already sleepy, darling?” Chris tugged him out of the chair to join him on the sofa. They leaned against each other, sharing another kiss. 

“Mhm. But I’ll wake up. It’s not as warm in here now. Just don’t let me have any wine.”

Victor claimed the comfortable chair. “We can get lemonade.”

Tristan ran his hand through his fluffy chestnut hair. “My favorite!” His eyes sparkled just a bit. “Seriously, my favorite.”

“I know.” 

Chris called for snacks and lemonade, and they joked about the girls that had tried to flirt with them in the ballroom. Tristan looked disappointed when Victor told him about the opera singer.

“I love _Rusalka,_ I wish I could have gone.” Tristan moved away from Chris a little when the food arrived. “I know that’s an unusual interest for a man of my station.”

Tristan was, technically, Chris’s personal assistant or secretary. He was a commoner, but in no way common. His family had been very well-off for many years, and associated at court in Schweiz before they lost their fortune to bad investments, leading to his father’s suicide. Tristan had found himself in need of work to support his mother and sister, and had been relieved to attract the attention of the prince’s personal assistant to be an under-secretary. Being able to read and write, and having cultured manners, had allowed him to avoid menial work. When Rupert had asked to retire, Chris had asked Tristan to assume his duties (partially because he was cute, partially because he was unbelievably organized, and partially because he loved Chris’s cat). He hadn’t anticipated how easy it was to become attached to someone you saw for hours every day who was also kind, funny, and attractive. 

Chris had introduced Tristan’s mother to a friend of his, an older man who had two daughters of his own, and had lost his wife some years before. Wolfe had been a master architect for years and had recently passed more of his responsibilities to his younger partners, and had been happy to provide company to the lovely woman the prince said needed a friend. Naturally, they’d fallen in love and married. Chris had considered himself quite the accomplished matchmaker at that point.

Tristan had considered himself an accomplished matchmaker when he’d matched himself to the prince. Chris had to agree.

“Hush, you don’t have to pretend in front of us.” Victor knew that Tristan struggled with his fall in station, even though neither of them acknowledged it at all. In elevated circles, though, having to go into trade was considered a significant fall from grace. He wondered if he realized that once he married Chris, he’d be a duke. _I wonder if he realizes he’s going to marry Chris. I wonder if he thinks Chris even cares about his nobility or lack thereof._ He knew Chris wanted to marry Tristan, even though he hadn’t asked him yet. 

“I know, it’s a habit.” Tristan smiled when Chris pressed a kiss to his temple. “It means a lot that two princes treat me as an equal.”

“And adore you,” Chris murmured, putting his arm around Tristan and tugging him close. “Truly adore you.”

“I’ll say ‘like you a great deal,’” Victor joked. 

Tristan laughed. “I’ll accept that.”

“Tell Tristan about your adventure today,” Chris suggested. He released his love to reach for a pastry. “Don’t let me eat too many of these, I need to fit into my clothes.”

“You had an adventure?” 

“I ended up in the Old Forest.”

“Victor, poor judgement is one of your best qualities, but that was daft.”

“No, it was great! I found a frozen, glowing pond with a princess sleeping in the middle, protected by unicorns.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow over his lemonade. “That’s weird.”

“Really weird! The unicorns almost attacked me. I want to go back tomorrow.”

“And drag me there,” Chris added, gesturing with his pastry.

“No. Absolutely not.” 

“I won’t let him get attacked by unicorns, I promise.”

“Victor. No.”

“You can come.”

“Still no.”

Chris tickled Tristan’s side. “I can’t let him go alone, darling, he’s an idiot.”

Tristan giggled. “Fine. But don’t bring back a princess one of you has to marry.”

They talked for about an hour before it was clear that Tristan was holding on to consciousness with his teeth and toenails. “Go to sleep, you two.” Victor gave the snuggling lovebirds a fond look. “I’ll see myself out.” 

Lying in bed, Makkachin snoring softly by his side, Victor couldn’t help but think that the frozen pond was going to be really important to his future. _I really don’t know what I’d do with a princess. Maybe I can invite all the single, straight princes I know for a party, and have one of them wake her up. I’d love to plan a huge wedding._ He had already decided he was planning Chris and Tristan’s wedding. He had excellent taste. 

He fell asleep designing flower arrangements.


	2. In which unicorns are dumb and Victor whines a lot

Victor was a morning person. It was really annoying to people at court who usually didn’t get of bed until after ten. The people who did get up early at court were really responsible people with political ambition or had real jobs. He really wanted to wake up Chris right now but knew that Chris was definitely not an early riser, and he didn’t want to take any of the precious time he got to spend with Tristan. He knew waking up late and snuggling for a while was one of Chris’s favorite things. 

Sighing, Victor got out of bed and took care of his morning routine. He was sure most nobles thought they needed help getting dressed and brushing their hair, but that was ridiculous. His early caretakers had said in no uncertain terms that princes did not need help to get into perfectly normal clothes. His more elaborate clothing did require Alexei’s help, and his hair-drying spell was a godsend, but for the most part he was independent like a normal person. 

By the time he was done, Makka was whining for a walk. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Alexei walked Makkachin when he was stuck doing prince things (or discovering cursed princesses), but Victor tried to take him out every morning on his own. He was getting old, he was almost 12, and Victor wanted to spend as much time with him as he could.

The gardens were stunning in the early morning light, when dew drops made every petal and leaf sparkle. Birds were singing, hummingbirds were buzzing, and the breeze was soft and cool. People who hated mornings were missing out. This was the best time of day to be outside. Makka loved it too, there weren’t as many people in the gardens, so he could run all over the place. Usually only gardeners were out at this time, and they universally loved Makkachin. He was very, very smart, and had learned not to run through flower beds. One of the gardeners had stashed some dog toys in one of the sheds.

Victor spent as much time outside as he could, probably an hour and a half, before he got restless again. He took the long, meandering way to the royal stables to visit Rose, feeding her breakfast himself. Rose and Makka were good friends, and the horse and poodle were happy to see each other. Victor rifled around in the supply room and found horse cookies for Rose, but drew the attention of the other horses, and cheerfully fed them all a few. Chris’s horse was a gorgeous palomino, and the greediest eater Victor had ever met. Yuri’s was actually Rose’s younger sister, but was more white than silver. Mila’s was a bay mare that loved everyone and everything, but was dumb as a rock. He’d made friends with most of the horses that lived there full-time, and the ones his friends and brought with them. Yakov’s horse was a huge, ugly, black gelding that didn’t like cookies for some reason and had a bad attitude. His father’s horse was as beautiful a black gelding as Yakov’s was ugly, but never saw his real owner, the king’s Master of Horse had one of his assistants exercise him every day. 

“I’ll be back later, Rosie, we’re going on a ride this afternoon.” He waited for Rose to put her head over the half-door of her loose box to snuffle Makka, and for Makkachin to give her a few more puppy kisses. He went back to the palace by way of the kitchen, grabbing two currant buns for breakfast. The bells announced that it was 9:30, so he doubted Chris was up yet. Oh well. He could answer his correspondence and eat breakfast. 

By the time Victor got to his room, it had been thoroughly straightened, and his riding clothes were clean and laid out on his bed. He reluctantly went into his office and looked at the pile of letters waiting for him. 

“I need to just start.” He sat down and pulled over the first envelope. It was perfumed and the wax seal was stamped with a heart. He opened it, it was in invitation to a house party with a well-known widow tomorrow evening. “Um, no.” He put it in the rejection pile. The next was some really old palimpsest, folded and tied with a string. “This looks gross.” It was from an orphanage asking for him to visit with Makkachin. He put it in the accept pile. He’d also show up with money and food. He always accepted those invitations.

It really was mostly invitations. One was an invoice from his tailor, another from his cobbler, and one from the leather worker who was making him some additional riding clothes. But the rest were invitations to parties. Luckily, only one would be appropriate for the crown prince to attend, it was arranged by his mother’s cousin at her beautiful townhouse, and would be fun. He’d take Chris, Yuri, and Mila. He wrote the note to accept the invitation himself. He called Evgenia his aunt, even though the relationship was more distant. She was kind, wonderful, and loving. She also wouldn’t be trying to get him to marry anyone.

Victor looked up at a tap on the door frame. “Alexei, good morning.”

“It’s embarrassing for you to be up before I am. I’m your servant.”

“Liar, you were up at dawn.”

“I really wasn’t.”

“Besides, you’re my friend.” He picked up the pile of rejections. “Can you have someone who’s bored answer all of these with a big, fat, no?”

“I’ll do it. Make up for not getting up until after 8:00.”

“That is late.”

Alexei walked over to Victor’s desk to take the stack of letters. “I’m getting slow in my old age.”

“You’re 33.”

“Almost 34.” He pushed on Victor’s shoulder. “Did you eat breakfast? Or did you just grab a bun from the kitchen?”

“You know that answer to that.” He stood up from his desk and stretched.

“Then it’s a good thing there’s tea and two eggs in the sitting room.” Alexei took Victor’s spot at the desk, and pulled out his signature stamp. “What’s this?” He poked the grimy-looking letter. 

“A request that Makka and I visit Lady of Light orphanage. Can you send them a yes? And here’s a note to my aunt that just needs to be posted.”

“Yes. Go eat. Aren’t you glad you have a valet that can read and write?”

Victor chuckled. “Yes, I’m glad I taught my valet to read and write.” He knew that Alexei’s flippancy covered his deep gratitude. “Have you seen any of Chris’s household wandering around? Do you think he’s awake?”

“His valet was having tea in the kitchen, so I’m assuming the answer is no.” 

“Damn.” He walked over to the book shelf and picked up a carved box. “I’ll send him a note.”

Inside the box was a secret that exactly four people knew about. It looked like a bird folded from patterned paper. But it was really the greatest magic Victor had ever seen. 

Years ago, when he’d been 12 and Chris 10, they’d been spending the hottest days of summer at the seaside. The western border of Rus was an ocean with a diverse coast, rocky in the north where the mountains met the sea, sandy and sunny in the south. They’d been lazing about on the pebbly beach for long enough to get bored (and sunburned), and wanted to go up into the wooded hills where it would be shady. Their servants had said it was absolutely not an option, which was baffling to Victor, Chris, and all of the locals, who pointed out that there was a perfectly safe hiking trail up to cliff with a good view. The cliff made it even more off limits…so the minute no one was looking, they took off up the trail. 

It had been gorgeous and cooler than the beach, and they were reveling in the thrill of escaping nannies, nurses, tutors, and servants. The path was steep, not enough that they were struggling, but enough to keep them from talking to each other. Over the sound of their panting, they’d heard a very faint sound, like a baby crying.

Chris had stopped first, looking at Victor. Victor had gestured for him to stay quiet, and they strained their ears for the sound again. “That way!” He’d taken off, not waiting to see if Chris was following.

Both boys had abandoned the path without a thought for how lost they were going to be, or what they would find when they located the source of the crying. They’d stopped frequently, orienting to the sounds. “I think it’s an animal,” Chris had whispered after the fourth time they’d stopped to listen.

Victor had nodded. “Maybe it’s in a trap. We can set it free!” He liked the idea of being a hero.

“How?”

“I don’t know, we’ll figure something out.” 

They’d been creeping through the wooded hills for nearly an hour, tracking the increasingly distressed cries, when they spotted a flash of brilliant orange through the trees. Chris had stopped short, grabbing Victor’s sleeve to keep him from blundering into the clearing. They’d slowly approached, peering around the trees.

“It’s a fox!”

Victor had nodded. “Let’s see if we can free it.”

They’d walked into the clearing, oblivious to the fact that there could be danger. The fox had barked happily, pawing at the floor of the cage. Chris had spotted the problem almost immediately, and stopped Victor from touching the trap. “Look, it’s glowing. Magic.” The fox had nodded in agreement.

“How can we break the spell?”

Chris had pondered the question for a few moments before remembering his secret weapon. “My bracelet!”

“Huh?”

He’d pushed up his sleeve to reveal a bracelet of incandescently white hair in an intricate braid. “It’s unicorn hair, it cancels out dark magic!”

“Unicorns are real?”

Chris had rolled his eyes. “Duh. My mom got it before she married my dad.” He’d stepped forward to hover his arm above the cage. The fox had danced happily. “Here we go.”

There was a pop, like a dislocated joint going back into place. The cage had dropped open, and the fox was free. Both boys had cheered.

Then they’d basically freaked out when the fox transformed into a woman with fox ears and tail in a cloud of glitter. She’d scooped them into her arms and kissed them both.

“Thank you, thank you, little princes, you’ve saved me! I thought I was going to be a slave for eternity. How can I ever repay you?”

Victor and Chris had looked at each other, then back to the fox lady, and shrugged.

She’d winked. “This is a huge debt that I owe you, so how is this. I will grant you your hearts’ desires.”

They’d looked at each other again. 

“Do we have to tell you now?” Victor’s heart’s desire right now was not to get in trouble for sneaking off to the woods, but he had the forethought to realize that he’d probably want something else when he was older. 

She’d laughed. “Nope, you’ll never know when it’s coming. That’s the trick.”

“Oh.”

“But for now, I’ll give you a little gift.”

She’d reached into her sleeve, and pulled out a piece of beautiful paper, the exact same pattern as her weird dress thing. Faster than either of them could follow, she had folded it into a bird. 

“Here is a little bird to share your secrets. Unfold the paper, write a message, give it a kiss, and think hard about the person who want to share your secret with. Off it will fly! Then they can send it back the same way.”

“How..?”

She’d winked at Victor. “Magic, my little silver prince.”

“No, how do you fold it?”

Chris had nodded. “You went too fast.”

The fox lady had looked concerned. “Do your people not fold paper for art and magic?” They’d shaken their heads. She’d laughed. “Well, then, let me show you.”

She’d pulled reams of paper out of her sleeves, and they’d spent a magical hour sitting in the clearing, folding birds and boats and butterflies. Each one she’d touched had flown away with a stream of sparkles. Finally she held out the original bird. “Now, here is your bird. Keep it a secret! Keep it in a pouch or box. And don’t get it wet!”

Victor had solemnly placed the brightly colored paper bird in his belt pouch. 

“Now then, it’s time for me to go.”

“Wait!” Chris had cried. 

She’d cocked her head. “Yes?”

“How do we get back to the path?”

“A very practical question, my little golden prince. Follow me.” With a cloud of glitter, she’d turned back into a fox, and lead them back to the path. 

“Can I pet you?” Victor had asked. When she danced in place, they both had stroked her soft fur. Then she’d turned in a circle, and disappeared in a cloud of sparkles.

At that moment they realized they’d been gone a long time, and would be in such deep trouble they’d never escape. Dreading their inevitable punishments, they’d trudged back down the trail. 

Fortunately for Chris and Victor, their nannies had been so happy to see that they weren’t dead that they’d avoided much in the way of reprimands. And since then, they’d used their little paper bird to send each other secret messages when separated by the long miles between their homes.

Victor pulled out the paper bird, which looked just as neat and perfect as the day the fox woman had given it to him. He walked to the desk and grabbed a pencil.

_Would you please get out of bed, you lazy fuck._

_Love,  
Victor_

Note written, he refolded the bird, gave it a kiss, and sent it flying out the window to Chris. 

Midway through eggs and tea, the bird beaned him in the back of the head.

_That was rude and came at a really inopportune moment, asshole. Give me an hour._

_Hugs and kisses,  
Chris_

It was _definitely_ more than an hour before Chris strolled into Victor’s sitting room. “It’s about time,” Victor complained, jumping out of his chair. 

“A round two occurred. I’m sure you understand.” Chris smirked. 

Victor rolled his eyes.

“Hey, it’s your fault, you interrupted round one.” 

“Did Tristan not want to come with us?”

Chris shook his head, looking sad. “No, it would be inappropriate, and you know it. No matter how much I want to be with him, there’s no way a secretary would go riding with two princes.”

Victor nodded, and squeezed Chris’s arm. “When are you going to marry him?”

“I’m waiting for Erik to come of age. Then I’ll abdicate in his favor, and I can marry Tristan. If he wants me.”

“Oh, Chris,” Victor replied, hugging him close. “He wants to marry you, I know it. He loves you.”

“Sometimes I think I’ll accidentally push him away pretending we’re not a couple. I love him so much, Victor, I’m so scared I’ll lose him.”

“Talk to him, tell him you’re scared.”

Chris pulled away. “I did. He told me not to be an idiot.”

“Does it bother him when we hang all over each other?”

“Not when it’s you, but we both hate it when I’m flirting with other people.”

“How old is Erik now?”

Taking a deep breath, Chris answered, “17. He turns 18 in December.”

“Six months. You can do it. And I’ll be there.”

Chris nodded. “I can do it.”

“Come on, let’s go ‘hunt.’”

Like Victor, Chris could saddle his own horse, so they didn’t need to wait for grooms to be available. They waved to the guard at the kitchen gate, and headed across the meadow, eyes trained on the shadowy entrance to the New Forest. Victor looked over at Chris, and saw that he was still brooding. 

“Chris, I promise, everything will be okay. Do you want me to talk to him?”

He looked up and smiled. “No, I know he loves me. He tells me all the time. He shows me all the time. I just worry that I’m not enough for him.”

Victor smiled. “You’re kind, funny, handsome, and care deeply about the people in your life and the welfare of others. You treat him like an equal, and ask nothing of him but love and friendship. You’re enough.”

Chris laughed a little. “Please, continue to stroke my ego.”

“I think we already covered your romantic skills.”

“Hmm, yes, very important. Luckily we’re evenly matched in that area.”

Victor raised an eyebrow. “So you’ve said, but you’ve never divulged any secrets.”

Chris gave Victor a look. “Do we have any secrets?”

“Probably not. But I’m not really inspired to compete with you for experiences anymore.”

“Same.”

“Is it because we’re old?”

“I’m 25.”

With a sigh, Victor looked down the road. “I’m lonely, Chris.”

“I know, love. It’s not the same, but you’ll at least have friends to distract you this summer, and you can come see me this winter for Erik’s coronation.”

“Remember our death pact?”

In a sad moment of understanding state marriages and the loveless arrangements of royal families, Victor and Chris had decided that they’d marry each other to avoid being political tools or, more horrifically, matched with women. Being married to your best friend (and lover) was far better than being married to someone you hardly knew. There were various marriages between Rus and Schweiz throughout history, but strengthening the bond by the two heirs marrying could potentially have led to combining the two nations into one. At least, that’s how they figured they’d sell it if their parents weren’t on board. 

“Mhm. Seemed like a very good idea at the time.”

“It’s still a good idea, just not a viable one, since I’m never going to take you from Tristan. I know that royal and noble marriages are often for show, but I couldn’t do that to you. Besides, my father couldn’t give less of a damn if I get married. He knows I’m not going to produce heirs, and just hopes I don’t embarrass him before he can get nieces and nephews in place to inherit after I ‘get bored with doing my duty’ and ‘abandon my royal responsibility to the people’ and ‘fritter my life away while draining the treasury dry.’”

Chris gaped. “He actually said that to you?”

Victor gulped down tears. “Yes. More than once.”

“Gods, Victor, I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?” 

He blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears at bay. “I don’t know.”

“You do _everything_ you’re supposed to do. You sit audiences. You host parties. You go to council meetings even though no one ever listens to you. You visit orphanages and hospitals. You entertain at court amusements _every night_. You dance with every spinster and wallflower, have an aide whose whole job is to make sure you know all of the economic and political bullshit your father is doing, and you’ve never once failed to attend a function requiring a member of the royal family, even though your father can’t be fucked to go, or even ask you to go. You’re kind to everyone, no matter what their rank, and everyone _loves_ you. On top of that, you’re smart, educated, athletic, and gorgeous. I don’t know how anyone can accuse you of not doing your duty. What else does he want?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never known. He only speaks to me once or twice a month, and it’s always to berate me. Or try to insult me by saying I’m just like my mother.”

“Your mother was wonderful. I loved her as much as I love my own mom.”

“I know. I miss her.” Queen Vasilysa had been loved by everyone – she had been beautiful, gracious, kind, and caring. “I don’t know how I’m failing as a prince, if she was universally seen as the perfect queen, and I’m just like her.”

“It makes no sense.” Chris shook his head. “Let’s stop talking about depressing things. We’re almost to the Old Forest, how far in is the glowing pond?”

Victor was grateful for the change of topic. “I’m not sure, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. Not too far, it didn’t take me long to get out of the Old Forest after I got back to the road.”

“Very specific. You know we’re going to be starving when we get back, right? And we’ll be in that too-close-to-dinner time where you can’t get food from the kitchen.”

“You could have had breakfast.”

“Hmm, I was otherwise occupied.”

“It’s your own fault, then.”

Chris laughed. “I could blame it on Tristan.”

“He’s not here to defend himself. And he’d blame it on you anyway.”

Chris’s horse balked at going into the Old Forest. Rose was clearly nervous. 

“We were well into the Old Forest when Rose got spooked yesterday.”

“Hmm, perhaps the magic has gotten stronger.” 

The horses went a few more paces before stubbornly refusing to take another step.

“You know, we’ve ridden straight through before, this is really unusual,” Chris commented as they dismounted. 

“I know, and Rose went further yesterday, I could see the white light before she freaked out.” Victor tied off Rose’s reins to a sturdy bush. “I hope it’s still there.”

Once the horses were secured, they started down the path on foot. It was strangely silent under the trees, and their footsteps thudded dully on the packed dirt. Victor shivered. “There were sounds yesterday. It’s creepy how quiet it is.”

“Definitely creepy. Is it getting darker?”

Victor nodded. “Extra creepy.”

They were silent for a few minutes, too uneasy to talk in the oppressive gloom. Victor wondered if the princess was gone, and they were going to be attacked by goblins or werewolves or something for their efforts. He was so busy being worried that he didn’t notice the white light until Chris pointed it out.

“Is that it?”

“Yes!” Victor sped up, motioning for Chris to hurry. “See? It’s getting colder as we go closer.”

By the time they reached the approximate location of the glow, both of them were chilled and breathless. The swirling mist expanded to surround them, like it was beckoning them forward.

“Well, no sense in waiting. If we’re going to die, let’s get it over with.” Chris stepped off the path.

“I promised Tristan I wouldn’t let you get killed.” Victor followed him. “But in hindsight, we probably should have brought weapons.” 

“Too late now.”

They pushed through the dark, prickly bushes that lined the road, and stumbled out into the cold meadow. Victor motioned for Chris to follow him, and they started out across the frosty grass. _It’s colder than yesterday._

The pond seemed bigger, too, but just as round and just as frozen. The altar and princess were still right in the center.

“This is definitely one of your more interesting ways to waste an afternoon, Victor,” Chris whispered. “What are we going to do now?”

“I really want to see if there’s a princess on the altar, but I’m not interested in sliding across the ice.” Victor felt it prudent to whisper as well.

Chris was silent for a few moments. “Skates.”

“Huh?”

“We should have brought ice skates.”

Victor smacked himself in the forehead. “I should have thought of that. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“It’s the off season, why would you think about skating? But if we’re going to get to the middle of the pond, we’re going to need to bring our skates with us.”

“Good plan.” He looked around. “I don’t see any unicorns.”

Of course, Victor had just jinxed them, and four unicorns thundered out of the shadows to threaten them. They were beautiful, like sculptures of living moonlight, and moved as fluidly as water over the grass.

“Good job, Victor.”

“Okay, we need to go, let’s split up and zigzag across the meadow. Maybe that will confuse them.”

Chris shrugged. “That’s as good a plan as any.”

They took off, dodging in different directions. The unicorns tried to follow. Victor looked over his shoulder.

One unicorn forgot the pond was in its way, ran onto the ice, fell, and slid across it to bang into the altar.

One was following him, and two were after Chris. He changed directions. His unicorn didn’t. It smacked into one of the fallen trees and fell over.

Victor watched as the two chasing Chris ran into each other, got their legs tangled up, and went down into the grass.

Needless to say, both Victor and Chris escaped unscathed.

***

Victor was relieved to see that they’d made it back to the palace with plenty of time until dinner. He and Chris were still laughing over their misadventure.

“How can anything that stupid survive in the wild?” Chris’s hazel eyes sparkled with mirth.

“I have no idea. I knew they were dumb, but not that dumb.” Victor pushed his bangs out of his eyes. “Let’s go tell Tristan.”

When they snuck in the kitchen door, Victor managed to sweet talk one of the cooks into sending tea and sandwiches up to Chris’s suite. They were still giggling when they got there. Tristan looked up from responding to the letters the prince had already accumulated in the week he’d been in Rus. 

“Welcome back.”

Chris immediately crossed to the writing desk to kiss his beloved. “Missed you.” He leaned in for another.

Tristan laughed, but gave him another kiss. “You did not.”

“How can you doubt my sincerity?”

“Because you’re laughing. When you actually miss me you don’t come into the room laughing.”

Chris sighed dramatically, placing his hand over his (apparently) broken heart, and looked to the heavens for support. “You wound me, my love.”

“Stop it.” Tristan got up from the desk and stretched. “Tell me about your adventure.”

They waited for the tea tray to be delivered before sharing. “Victor was right. There’s a frozen pond in the Old Forest. It glows like moonlight, and there’s a princess sleeping in the center.” Chris poured tea for all of them. “And it was guarded by unicorns.”

“I see.” Tristan leaned back into the sofa with his tea cup cradled in his hands, and pulled his feet up. In the time he’d known him, Victor had observed that Tristan would never sit normally if he could curl up.

“And unicorns aren’t as dumb as people think.” Chris availed himself of a dainty tea sandwich. 

“Oh?”

“Nope, they’re even dumber.”

Victor almost choked on his tea laughing. “Lord and Lady, did you see the one that ran onto the pond and slid into the altar?”

“You saw the ones chasing me plow into each other and crash to the ground.”

“Mine hit a tree.”

Tristan was laughing, too. “Are they blind? Or just genuinely that stupid.”

“I think just stupid,” Chris replied, gesturing with his sandwich. “They knew exactly where we were, just couldn’t think fast enough to change direction.”

“You know, if the Crispino twins come this summer, we should ask Sara about that. A ratio of stupidity to visual acuity.” Sara Crispino was a famous sorceress from Italia. Her twin, Michele, was a knight. They basically traveled around solving problems and rescuing people. It was a noble pursuit…and paid really well. They usually spent a month or so in Rus during midsummer to enjoy the weather and lucrative business of magical fireworks displays (a must for any noble having a party in the summer). 

“Maybe there’s a book on it somewhere, _The Anatomy and Physiology of Unicorns.”_

“Gods, who could stand to be around them for long enough to write a whole book?” Victor took another sandwich from the tray. “And, of course, only a virgin could write it.”

“According to my mother, they’re extra stupid around virgins,” Chris replied. “Remember how she collected all that unicorn hair? She kept going back to the same clearing every day and sitting under the same tree and unicorns would just line up to flop their heads on her lap, and they never noticed she was brushing their manes for hours to collect their hair.”

“What did she do with all the hair?”

“She sold it for huge sums of money and solved all of the financial problems for her family.”

“How did she meet your father?” Tristan asked. 

“When she showed up at court, filthy rich from selling unicorn hair to mages, she caught his eye. Not because she was pretty – which she was, of course, I got my long eyelashes and luscious lips from her – but because she was so enterprising. She was selling bracelets to girls at court, and spreading the rumor that unicorn hair would burn the skin of someone who was impure, so only virgins could tolerate it. It’s total bullshit, but she made a fortune from people who wanted to prove they were virgins, whether they actually were or not.”

Victor did choke on his tea this time. “I love your mother even more now.”

They all looked up when Alexei entered the room. “I beg your pardon, my dear Prince Christophe, but if _my_ dear Prince Victor is going to be clean for dinner, his royal butt needs to be in the bathtub in short order.”

“So disrespectful,” Victor complained, standing. “I can’t believe I pay you to be so rude.”

“You pay me to be your valet. I’m rude to you for free.”

“The things I put up with. See you at dinner, Chris.” As he was walking away, Victor had a thought. “You know, Tristan, none of the courtiers that gather in the ballroom will know or care than you’re technically Chris’s secretary. After dinner, come meet us.” He turned to Alexei. “I wish I could make you the same offer.”

“Considering I have no desire to mingle with the court, I’m not the least bit offended.”

“Thank you, Victor.” Chris looked like he’d been granted a reprieve from a death sentence.

Tristan smiled. “I will.” He kissed Chris’s cheek. “You also need a bath, my dear prince. You smell like horse.”

“Join me?” Chris offered in his most suggestive voice.

Victor didn’t wait to hear the answer. He suspected it would be no, however, because they’d tried to share that bathtub and it wasn’t quite big enough. And Tristan was a little taller than Victor.

In his room, Victor started undressing. 

“Anything special you want to wear for dinner tonight, Victor?” Alexei was in his wardrobe while he pulled off his riding boots.

“Cotton or linen. It’s so overheated in the ballroom with all the bodies crammed in there. Silk just sticks to my back under the vest.”

“How about classic white cotton with this striped waistcoat and brown trousers?”

The waistcoat in question was a soft tan contrasting with a soft coral, and laced up with braided leather. “If I leave it loose, that could be comfortable. I wish it was acceptable to roll up your sleeves at the dinner table.”

“It would make more sense, too, those trailing hems and big poofs are bound to drag through gravy.”

“Fashion, Alexei. Fashion above all else.”

“That explains the sheer quantity of stuff in your wardrobe. Go get in the bath.”

Just like every other night, dinner was miserable. Victor wasn’t even sure what the food was, it was visually interesting and tasted expensive, but it was a mystery. He really enjoyed food, even though he was careful with his weight, and palace dinners were just sort of meh. The best food was breakfast (when he ate it), but he’d really gotten some amazing fair when he was annoying people in the kitchen and the cooks tried experimental dishes on him. _Why doesn’t any of that end up on my plate?_

The evening’s entertainment was dancing. Really, that was the best “amusement.” Everyone wanted to be seen dancing with the right people, and Victor loved picking out awkward or unpopular girls and boys to dance with, so that they could feel just as special as the professional beauties and heirs to titles and fortunes. Chris did the same thing whenever he was visiting. It was expected on dancing nights that you’d get hot, and need to spend time in the gardens to cool down, which was a wonderful opportunity to get into inappropriate mischief. The ladies withdrawing room was staffed with maids would could whisper grass stains off of gauzy silk skirts.

By some tacit agreement, Chris and Victor had decided not to mention their forest adventure to Mila and Yuri at dinner, even though they knew both were trustworthy. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight, there was going to be dancing, and Victor loved dancing. He was especially happy with it tonight, though, because Chris and Tristan would be able to dance with each other. 

As if the thought had summoned him, Chris appeared at his side. “Tristan is going to meet us in the gardens just after 8,” he murmured. “I didn’t see what he was planning to wear, he said it was a surprise.”

Victor briefly pictured Chris’s boyfriend showing up in a clown suit. “I’m sure he’ll look very dashing.” _Please don’t let it be a clown suit._

Chris looked down, smiling. “We’ll get to dance.”

“He can come to court after dinner any time. No one here will be spying.”

“I wish you’d thought of it last summer,” he answered ruefully.

Victor shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why it never occurred to me.”

“Don’t be silly, of course it didn’t.”

The band struck up a lively tune, a country dance that had been made popular at court by some wealthy and eccentric family showing up in town after living on their estate for years. Now it was all the rage. Victor turned to Chris and offered his hand. “Care to dance, my friend?”

“Of course, love. But let’s avoid waltzes tonight, shall we?”

“Those are all Tristan’s.” _I wish I had someone to waltz with._

As they whirled and skipped, the young men couldn’t help but laugh. It was a ridiculously fun dance, just _this_ close to being undignified, and everyone finished breathless, smiling and clapping for the musicians. The next dance was a more stately piece. Chris asked a little girl that was probably 11 years old to dance, and she was going to be the envy of her older sisters; Victor swept Mila onto the dance floor. Both princes bowed out of the following dance; the bells had just rung 8:00, and they excused themselves to the gardens.

As beautiful as the palace gardens were in the morning, they were even more magical at night. The late queen had imported rare night-blooming plants from all over the world, and now the evening air was filled with perfume. Even better, glittering lights of various colors illuminated exotic petals and leaves. The lights were magic, of course. _I love magic,_ Victor mused. _If only I could magically have a boyfriend._

“Where are we supposed to meet him?”

“By the lavender roses.” Chris tried to look casual as they strolled along the graveled paths. 

They were idling by a topiary shaped like a unicorn ( _there are too many unicorns in my life lately,_ Victor mentally complained) when soft footfalls alerted them to Tristan’s approach. In the low light of the garden, it wasn’t immediately obvious what color he was wearing, but much to Victor’s relief, it was not a clown suit, it was a less-dramatic variation on his and Chris’s clothes. He looked completely normal to Victor, but Chris lit up. The other prince went forward to take his beau’s hands. 

“You’re wearing blue.”

“Just for you, dearest,” Tristan teased, a smile in his voice. 

Victor wondered for a while why this was important, but let it go. He’d ask later. For now he watched his best friend gaze at the love of his life like it was the first time they’d met. Chris had confided to him that it had never stopped feeling brand new, he still got butterflies in his stomach when he saw Tristan. Their third anniversary was in September, he thought he remembered, but the time hadn’t changed anything about how desperately they loved each other. It was bittersweet; as happy as he was for the two of them, he was sad for himself. Chris had exactly what _he_ wanted - true love. 

He shook himself out of his sad thoughts as the love birds walked back to him, hand in hand. He managed to smile mostly normally. “Good evening,” he greeted, hoping it didn’t sound forced.

“Hi, Victor.” Tristan let go of Chris to give him a brief hug. “Thank you for inviting me.”

It was hard to feel crappy when faced with such heart-felt gratitude in a single sentence. “Let’s go dance. I can’t wait to see you two on the dance floor.”

They band was taking a break when they walked back in, but champagne was conveniently passing by as they entered (well, a waiter had it, it would be a huge waste of magic to have unmanned champagne flutes flying around). In the warmer lights of the ballroom, Victor could see that Tristan’s trousers were midnight blue, his shirt was cream, and his waistcoat was a very subtle blue-on-blue brocade in soft shades that didn’t immediately draw the eye. It was a very fetching ensemble, and suited the brunet very well. Suddenly, Victor realized, he’d never seen Tristan wear a color before. He always wore brown or grey so that he’d fade into the background. Chris was clearly delighted, and looked a little dazzled, like he couldn’t believe his good fortune. _It’s kind of sickening how cute they are._

The soft strains of the Starstruck Waltz, part of a suite of pieces called _Intoxicated_ , spread throughout the ballroom, and Victor watched Chris offer his hand to Tristan, and the other man take it, a look of pure joy on his face. They moved into the swell of dancers, but Victor didn’t lose sight of them. It was their first dance in public, to the most romantic waltz in the popular repertoire, and Tristan had deliberately dressed to _not_ be invisible. It was a big deal. 

“Is that Chris’s boyfriend?”

Victor turned his head to see that Yuri had joined him. “Yes, his name is Tristan.”

“He looks at him the way my horse looks at apples.”

Victor smothered a laugh. “They’re kind of gross, they’re so cute.”

Yuri giggled quietly. “I hope they’re not as disgusting as you are when you’re with Chris.”

“I’ve never seen them be that, um, sensual with each other. That’s kind of a Victor-and-Chris thing.”

“He greets people by grabbing their asses.”

“He’s gotten better about that,” Victor laughed. “We’ve mostly outgrown ass-grabbing for shock value.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Except with each other because you’re gross.”

“It’s an act, Yura.” Victor shook his head. “He’s in love.”

“I swear to all the gods that I with _never_ act like that with my boyfriend.”

Victor turned his head sharply. “Do you have a boyfriend?” _Yuri likes boys?_

“No. I hate everyone.” He scowled as hard as possible. “But if I ever meet someone I can stand, I won’t be gross with him.”

The waltz came to an end, and a contrasting energetic piece from Espana that was more fun launched into the air. “Want to dance, Yuri?”

Yuri rolled his eyes, but agreed. “I guess. I like this dance.”

Like Victor, Yuri was an excellent dancer, and they followed the steps perfectly in time. Victor privately thought that Yuri could have been a professional ballet dancer if he hadn’t been born noble. He was so lithe and graceful. _I wonder what he’ll look like after he gets his growth spurt._

The evening of dancing was beautiful. Victor danced with a different partner for every song, hoping to keep his loneliness at bay with physical exertion. He got a little bit too drunk for polite company, but managed not to embarrass himself too badly (he thought). Eventually he dragged himself off to bed, but couldn’t be fucked to get undressed except for his shoes. 

If Makkachin had to kiss his tears away, no one was the wiser.


	3. In which Yuuri is on ice

“Victor, come on, wake up.”

When the persistent shaking and annoying voice didn’t stop, Victor cracked open on eye. It was grey in the room, and Alexei was looking at him, concerned. He tried to form words, but was in that area where he was still drunk but starting to feel like shit and language was beyond him. “Hnng.”

“You need to get out of your clothes and drink some water, or you’re going to wish you died in the morning. Come on.”

When Alexei didn’t go away just by closing his eyes, Victor made his clumsy way into a sitting position, and tried to help his valet take off his waistcoat. Eventually Alexei batted his hands away, so he assumed he wasn’t actually helping. He obediently stood to get his shirt and trousers removed, then dropped back down on the bed in his underwear like a lead weight. He looked at the cup being pushed into his hand with detached curiosity, but eventually connected the cup to the idea that it had something in it and that he should drink it. It took his muscles a few moments to remember what to do, but he did eventually manage to drink a large amount of water. He stared at Alexei as he took the cup.

“I’m going to leave more water on your nightstand, but for now, let’s get you back in bed.”

Being horizontal felt so much better, Victor mused. It was just cool enough in the room for the weight of the blanket to feel nice. Makkachin snuggled back up to him as he settled. Vaguely he felt grateful for Alexei taking care of him, and felt like there was something he was forgetting, but unconsciousness claimed him again before his drunk brain could reason it out. 

The next time he opened his eyes, sun stabbed directly into his brain, and Victor came to the immediate conclusion that he’d had way too much to drink the night before. He wanted nothing more than to bury his head under the pillow and pretend morning wasn’t happening, but his bladder was uncomfortably full, his mouth tasted horrible, and he was pretty sure he could smell himself. “Hnng.”

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

Victor squinted at his valet, trying to limit the amount of light assaulting his eyes. “What time is it?”

“After 10.”

Groaning, Victor threw back the blanket. “I never sleep this late.”

“You also don’t usually get drunk enough for Chris to have someone find me to check on you at 4:30 in the morning.”

He gaped. “I didn’t think I was that drunk.”

Alexei chuckled. “You were pretty drunk. I’ve heard about it a couple times this morning. Apparently you weren’t the only one, the buzz today is that last night was a wild party.”

“It must have been, I don’t remember nearly enough of it.” He remembered being a shameless flirt with pretty much everyone he asked to dance, but that wasn’t too unusual. And sitting in the garden with Chris and Tristan—

Oh. 

_So I got drunk because I was jealous that my best friend was spending the evening with his boyfriend for the first time ever. I can’t believe what an unbelievable dick I am._

“Is Chris mad at me?” Victor asked in a small voice.

“Not that I know of,” Alexei answered, a look of confusion on his face. “Did you do something to him?”

Victor sighed. “I don’t know. I hope I didn’t ruin his night with Tristan.”

“You’ll have to ask him that yourself later. I’m sure he’s not up yet.” Alexei took his hand and tugged. “Bath, Victor.”

As he soaked, Victor stewed over his poor behavior the night before. He’d made it possible for his best friend _since he was fucking 10 years old_ to have his first dance with this boyfriend of _three fucking years_ and then he’d gotten shitfaced and made a fool of himself. He had vague memories of Yuri and Mila laughing with ( _at?_ ) him, so maybe they could fill in the missing pieces of the evening. Maybe he could think of a good way to beg Chris to forgive him. He sighed, and looked up from his bubbles when Alexei tapped on the door frame. 

“I have tea and toast for you. Do you need help with your hair?” His valet’s lip curled into a smirk.

Victor laughed. He remembered his 16-year-old-self needing significant help with his long hair the first time he’d gotten royally drunk and thrown up…in it. And that was only the _first_ time. “No, no, cutting it short was a good idea, after all. I could use help standing up, though.” He wasn’t too proud to ask when his head was splitting and soap was involved.

Eventually Victor was seated on the sofa in his sitting room, in loose trousers and his favorite shirt, a loosely-woven white knit tunic with blue stripes, tea in hand. He’d swallowed a couple herbal tablets that he kept on hand for headaches (modern healing and medicine were amazing). He’d even managed to eat one piece of toast. It was quiet on this side of the palace at this time of day, and Victor was able to relax until his headache started to fade. Sometime after he’d sat down, Makka had come to join him on the sofa. His furniture was just this side of shabby, but it was comfortable and there was always going to be a dog on it, so he saw no reason to replace it. It was all his preferred colors, soft blues and greens and browns, with touches of pinks and lavenders. The legs of this sofa bore the evidence of Makkachin teething, and the decorative pillows had been ripped open numerous times in his puppyhood. The rug had seen its share of puppy accidents, and he was pretty sure no one wanted to know what had happened on the sofa cushions over the years. Or either of the chairs. 

Unable to remain still when he was so worried about Chris and Tristan hating them for the rest of his life, Victor got up and went into his office (also shabby) to get out his paper bird.

_I am an unbelievable piece of shit. Can you ever forgive me for ruining your night with Tristan?_

_Love,  
Victor_

_PS I will do anything you want to make it up to you._

He folded the bird, kissed it, and sent it out the window. It was almost noon, Chris was bound to be up by now.

Victor was on his third cup of tea, and feeling physically better, when the bird fluttered back in and landed gently on the top of the tea pot.

_You’re an idiot, you didn’t ruin anything. My night was magical. Tristan agrees. You could come up to visit with chocolate if you really want to make amends._

_Hugs and kisses,  
Chris_

_PS I’m not kidding about the chocolate._

Nearly faint with relief, Victor broke into his chocolate stash. He and Chris felt it important to be prepared with adequate chocolate reserves for any type of emotional crisis that might occur. Chocolate tended to be seasonal, mostly showing up around Midwinter, so both princes made sure to set a great deal aside for the rest of the year. 

Forgoing all sense of royal dignity, Victor padded barefoot up to Chris’s room, and Tristan answered the door when he knocked. He smiled when Tristan pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you so much,” he whispered. “Really, thank you.”

“Just wish I’d thought of it before.” Victor pulled away. “I brought chocolate.”

Chris looked up when they walked from the dumb receiving room _(why did there need to be a room just for answering the door?)_ to the sitting room. “Chocolate?” 

“Right here,” Victor replied, setting a collection of sweets on the coffee table. “It’s the least I can do after getting so drunk I don’t really remember how embarrassing I was.”

Laughing, Chris stood up to give Victor a warm, absolutely-not-pissed-off hug. “Shut up. You didn’t do anything too stupid.”

“Are you sure?”

Tristan curled up on the sofa next to Chris, both having snatched foil-wrapped treasures from the table. “Your dancing got a bit silly, and you were pretty loud, but in your defense, everyone else was just as drunk.”

“Yuri tried to pick on you for being loud and you picked him up and twirled him around.” Chris snickered. “And kissed his cheek.”

“He’ll never forgive me,” Victor commented ruefully. 

“It was hilarious.” 

Victor nibbled on a corner of a chocolate bar. “I remember dancing with a lot of different people.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re an amazing dancer when you have even fewer inhibitions than normal?” Chris asked, laughing. “You were a star. I’ve never had that much fun at a court dance.”

“I didn’t do anything to make you two uncomfortable in my drunkenness?” That was Victor’s real worry, that his jealousy and petulance had spilled out when he was under the influence of who-knows-how-much champagne. 

Tristan smiled. “No, you didn’t. You didn’t draw attention to us, or say anything weird.”

“Or cry, which you do when you’re drunk.” 

“I’m pretty sure I remember crying. Maybe it was after I got back to my room.”

“At least you’re a pretty crier.” 

Victor laughed. “Good to know. How does one manage to be pretty when crying?”

Chris gestured with his chocolate, serious. “You get big, huge tears on your long eyelashes, and they spill down your cheeks like a painting, your nose doesn’t run, and you don’t get all blotchy.”

“I’m pretty sure all of those things happen.” Victor noticed Tristan trying not to laugh. “What?”

“Chris is the most dramatic crier ever.”

“What?!” The man in question looked at his boyfriend, betrayal in every line of his body.

“Seriously, when something makes you cry, it’s like you’re on stage. But you do get the big tears on your long eyelashes.”

“It’s true,” Victor agreed. “When we first met, his nanny called him ‘Princess Chrissy’ behind his back because he was such a dramatic baby when he didn’t get his way or fell and hurt himself.”

_“What?!”_

“It’s okay, dearest, I won’t hold it against you,” Tristan laughed. “Princess.”

Chris rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how either of you could accuse me of being dramatic.” That set them both off again. Eventually he had to laugh. “Okay, maybe I’m a little dramatic.”

“It’s okay, Chris, your nanny called me Princess Vicky because I was also dramatic.” 

“I hate to tell you this, but you’re still dramatic,” Chris replied. 

“You’re both ridiculous,” Tristan commented dryly. “But for some reason I put up with you.” He kissed Chris’s cheek. “Especially you.”

Victor’s heart twinged, but he couldn’t really blame them for showing affection to each other. He was literally the only person that officially knew about their relationship. Of course, Chris’s parents and brother _knew,_ just like Yuri and Mila _knew,_ but Victor was the only person they’d _told_ they were seeing each other. They could be open around one person, him, and he was not going to begrudge them that. 

“Okay, enough picking on dramatic princesses,” Tristan declared. “Have you thought about the frozen pond situation?”

Victor realized he hadn’t thought about the princess all day. “No, but now that you remind me, didn’t we think we should take skates, Chris?”

Chris nodded. “Yes. But you’ll have to hunt some up for me, I didn’t bring ice skates for my summer vacation.”

“I have at least 4 pairs.”

“Logistics, though, what are you going to do once you get to the princess? Are you going to wake her up?” Tristan unwrapped more chocolate.

“No.” Victor shook his head. “If it’s really a princess, I’m going to invite princes that actually like princesses to visit and one of them can wake her up.”

“So you just plan to go look? What about getting away from unicorns with skates on?”

Chris and Victor looked at each other. “Um, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Me either.” 

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, eating chocolate contemplatively. “Victor, do you just have your fitted skates, or do you have the kind that strap onto your boots?”

“I have both.” He looked at Chris. “That would make it easier to get in and out of blades without dying.” 

“It’s not like we’re going to be doing any acrobatics, we don’t need our nice skates.” Both princes loved skating, and were _good_ at it. The competitive nature of their friendship had pushed them both to learn tricks that made their tutors roll their eyes. 

“You should go now, while everyone still thinks you’re nursing hangovers.” 

“Good plan.” Victor stood up. “I’ll go change and meet you in the stables with skates?”

“Be there in 15 minutes.”

Victor opted to leave his knit tunic on, but changed into his riding leathers on the lower half. There was no comfortable way to stuff loose trousers into riding boots. He grabbed two sets of skates from the back of his wardrobe, and let Alexei know where he was going, just in case. Chris was already saddling his horse when he got down to the stable. 

“Someone here is too liberal with the horse cookies, this one seems to think he doesn’t have to do anything without a bribe.” Chris knew full well it was Victor.

“In his defense, Tanzen always wants food.” Victor clicked at Rose, letting her know he was behind her. “Ready for an adventure, Rosie?” 

As they headed out the back gate, skates stowed in saddle bags, Victor shared a fear with Chris. “What if the magic makes me want to fall in love _without_ kissing her? Like, I’m so in love I have to kiss her awake?”

“I’ll pull you back, and tie you to your horse. But just in case, you have to look at her first, Tristan would kill me.”

“What if it’s not a princess?”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “What else could it be?”

“What if it’s some cursed mythical creature and we’re going to die?”

“Why didn’t you think of that before now?”

“Because I’m pretty sure it’s a princess.”

“Then shut up.” Chris laughed when Victor flipped him off. “No seriously, we can be careful. I still have a unicorn hair bracelet, by the way, we should be able to avoid any unwanted magical consequences.”

“I feel like this is going to be a really big deal.” Victor wanted to urge Rose to go faster, but also didn’t want the adventure to be over yet. “Like, there’s an important part of my life that will happen after this.”

“Maybe your true love will come when you invite straight princes to see if they can wake her up.”

“Maybe.” That sounded really nice, actually. “We can fall in love while I’m planning a massive wedding. Maybe he’s a florist or a baker or something.”

“He could be a prince, you know, who comes with an older brother.”

“Wouldn’t that be crazy?” Victor was quiet for a moment. “Are you going to propose to Tristan before or after you abdicate? Oh, and I hope you know I’m planning your wedding.”

“Before.” Chris smiled his ‘thoroughly besotted’ smile. “I want to tell him on our anniversary. That I’m stepping down, and then propose. Maybe on our favorite bridge in the woods. The leaves will be every color then, we can go for a walk, I can get down on one knee, see which one of us cries first. And he’s an ugly crier, by the way, it’s a good thing I love him,” he joked. 

“I’m assuming red roses for the wedding, then?”

“Am I planning yours in return?”

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead. But blue roses.”

Sometime while talking, they’d passed into the Old Forest, and it wasn’t until the horses balked that they realized how long they’d been riding. “We’re farther in than yesterday.” Chris pointed down the path. “You can see the white light already.”

“Let’s tie up the horses and grab the skates.”

With every step, Victor’s sense of anticipation doubled, as well as his feeling that this was _really fucking important._ It was colder, cold enough that they could see their breath, by the time they jumped off the path and into the trees. Ice covered the grass almost to the edge of the meadow today, and the pond appeared to have grown, too. Frost was white on the fallen tree trunks. The light was far more intense, it was almost as bright as day.

It hadn’t been there the day before, but today there was a convenient log for them to sit on at the edge of the ice. They strapped the silver blades to their boots.

“Either this is meant to be, or it’s a serious trap,” Chris whispered.

“Let’s hope it’s the first one.”

Steadying each other, they took tentative steps onto the ice. It was rock solid, and perfectly smooth, whatever magic had been used to freeze this pond had been expecting skaters. Which was disconcerting. 

The center of the pond was farther away today. Victor very deliberately did not mention unicorns in an attempt to avoid jinxing them. At least he knew they weren’t graceful on ice. 

As they approached the center of the ice, they could see that the altar was a sheet of ice supported by hundreds of shards of crystal clear ice, beautiful but dangerous. The light appeared to be emanating from the shards at the base. But there was something else obscuring their view.

“Are those roses?” Chris whispered.

Just a few more gliding steps made it clear, that yes, the altar was covered in Sapphire Sky roses, surrounding the princess. 

“Those are my favorite roses,” Victor replied. “Convenient log, my favorite roses, this is either just for me, or a trap.”

“Which is also just for you.”

Closer yet, and they could see that the figure was obscured by a shimmering web of light. Even closer, and they could see that there was a person under it, surrounded by blue roses, but no clear features.

“Do you have that bracelet?”

Without saying a word, Chris unfastened the braid of unicorn hair set in gold from his wrist and passed it to Victor. With a deep breath, he slipped it over his hand, and lowered his arm to interrupt the web of light with the purity of unicorn magic.

There was a silent explosion, like fireworks with no sound, as the crystalline light shattered around them, leaving them dazzled. When the lights cleared from in front of Victor’s eyes, he looked down at the sleeping princess.

Except it wasn’t a princess.

It was a prince.

And he was _beautiful._

Long, thick black lashes lay in fans across his cheeks, pale in the frosty light surrounding them. He had dark hair, it looked black in the cold light, and features that were at the same time strong and delicate, and somehow, even in sleep, looked both worried and stubborn. He was wearing a suit of deepest blue, with a belt of glittering embellishments around the waist, and random trails of sparkles kept flowing over his chest and arms. Victor’s heart clenched. He didn’t know if the magic was doing it or not, but he had never wanted to fall in love with someone so desperately in his life. Gently, he cupped the prince’s cool cheek, thumb lightly grazing his soft lips. He put no conscious thought into leaning forward and pressing his lips to those of the young man sleeping, surrounded by roses, on a bed of ice. As he pulled back, he watched for a reaction.

At first, it didn’t look like his kiss was going to wake the sleeping prince, and Victor started to panic a little, until he saw those dark lashes flutter, and deep brown eyes open to look up at him. That’s when Victor knew, without a doubt, that he was going to love this man for the rest of his life. A dim corner of his mind wondered if it was the magic making him fall in love, but most of his being was overwhelmed with the look of confused longing that he was receiving.

“Hello,” he whispered. “My name is Victor. Are you a prince?”

More confused blinking, then the young man smiled. “Mm, I don’t know about that, but I could be _your_ prince if you’d like.” 

Victor gaped. Behind him he could hear Chris snort with laughter.

“Um, what’s your name?” When the mysterious, gorgeous stranger lifted a languid hand, Victor helped him sit up. “Do you know where you are?”

“Hmm mm,” the young man purred, and he draped himself over Victor’s chest, almost knocking them both to the pond. “I think here is nice for now, if you’re here.” He smiled. “You’re really hot.”

Victor Nikiforov, for all of his charms and virtues, was constitutionally incapable of resisting flirtations from handsome men. He smiled, falling into the game of it. “Hmm, likewise. Would you like to get off this chunk of ice?”

A deep, absolutely filthy laugh was his response. “Hmm, would you like to help me get off, Victor?”

 _Dearest gods, what have I gotten myself into?_ “Well, yes, but first we have to get back to civilization.”

More distinctly drunk-sounding laughter came from where the gorgeous man was mouthing kisses over his collar bone. “Hmm, where’s your sense of adventure?”

“What the hell are we going to do, Victor?” 

He turned his head to see Chris, cheeks wet from tears of laughter, skating up to him. “I have no idea.”

“Hi,” the sleeping beauty said, having turned his head. “Do you need a prince, too?”

Chris was unable to keep from laughing. “Hmm, no, I have a prince already. But could I possibly help you off of the altar?” He couldn’t quite keep all the innuendo out of his voice, it was too funny.

“You’re gorgeous,” he giggled. “But I think Victor already said he wanted to get me off.”

Victor decided he had to get this under control. He took the sleeping prince’s arms from around his neck and framed his face with his hands. “We’re in the middle of a frozen pond in a haunted forest. It’s not safe for us to be here. Will you come with me?”

Some sense came into those velvet-dark eyes. “Oh, okay. Yes.”

Nothing had ever felt as amazing as lifting this beautiful man into his arms to cradle him against his chest. And he instinctively cuddled into the contact. It felt right in a way that trying to carry another adult while on skates on a frozen pond should not. But the prince stayed still while Victor and Chris carefully made their way across the pond. Chris stepped off the ice first.

“Here, hand me your sleeping beauty so you don’t fall.”

Victor carefully transferred the warm man in his arms to his best friend, who helped him stand. “I’m Chris, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you.” The young man giggled as he lost his balance and Chris had to steady him with a hand on his butt. “Hmm, thought you didn’t need a prince.”

Victor was hurriedly removing his skates. “Don’t fondle my prince.”

“Maybe he just wants to dance,” mystery man giggled. “Do you want to dance, Chris?”

“Maybe later,” Chris laughed. “Here, prop him up so I can take off my skates.”

“Dance with me, Victor.” He proceeded to rub his entire body over Victor’s, just barely avoiding landing on his rump in the frosty grass.

And that was when everything went to shit.

A veritable _army_ of unicorns poured out of the trees around the pond, and the light made every single horn look sharper than the one next to it. 

The ice started to melt spontaneously, and the ground where they were standing started to become swampy almost immediately.

Mist started rising into the air, making it damned hard to see where the unicorns were.

The sleeping prince was clearly not going to be able to walk, let alone run.

“This is bad.”

Victor nodded. “Do you think splitting up will work again?”

“Who’s going to deal with Mr. Amorous here?”

“Is that me?” More giggles.

“I’ll throw him over my shoulder.”

“Okay, let’s get out of here.”

Chris took off, feet sliding a bit on the wet grass. They could hear the sound of unicorns coming, but couldn’t see them through the mist. Victor grabbed his prince, threw him over his shoulder, and ran.

“What the--”

“Hang on.”

Within a few feet, the mist cleared, and Victor could see that Chris had made it back to the trees. He pushed himself to run faster, ignoring the complaints from his passenger, and looked behind him.

The pond was a slushy swamp.

Full of unicorns.

Who apparently forgot the ice was there, ran onto it, and got stuck when it started to melt.

There were two that had apparently tried to be less stupid, but they’d fallen and were stuck in the mud. 

“I would never have believed this if I hadn’t witnessed it myself.”

Chris shook his head. “They seem to be dumber when they’re together. Like groups of them just lose intelligence.”

“Can I get down now?”

“Oh, sure, sorry,” Victor apologized, lowering his prince to the ground. “Do you think you can walk to get back to our horses?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe” was actually “not really,” and Victor was mostly supporting his mystery man all the way to where Rose and Tanzen were waiting impatiently. He was noticeably getting sleepy, and had lost his flirtatiousness entirely. “Just a little further, then we’ll go home, I promise,” Victor whispered. 

“Okay. You’ll stay with me?”

Heart absolutely melting, Victor assured him, “Of course I will.”

Victor mounted first, and Chris helped sleeping beauty up in front of him. There was no hope of him staying on Rose’s rump to ride pillion. Between the three of them, the dark-haired man was arranged sideways, one arm around Victor’s shoulders, his other hand on the pommel. He snuggled into Victor’s chest when he put his arm around his back to take the reins, and it was almost too nice. He was actually glad they’d have to stick to a slow walk on the way back, because this level of snuggliness from a gorgeous stranger needed to be savored.

“This has certainly been the most interesting way we’ve ever wasted an afternoon, Victor.”

Victor huffed out a tiny laugh. “I had absolutely no idea that this would happen.”

“Who knew it would be a _prince_ in the middle of the pond?” Chris shook his head. “I have _never_ heard of that.”

“Me either.” Victor hesitated. “But the same thing happened.”

“What do you—oh. Are you sure?”

Victor nodded. “Before I even kissed him. But when our eyes met? Wow.”

“But it’s the magic, right? Is it real? Or will it wear off?” Chris looked concerned.

“I don’t have a clue.”

They were silent for a few long minutes before Chris asked, “Did you see the unicorns?”

“Oh my god, there had to be what, 15 of them? And they _all_ charged onto the ice?” Victor snorted with laughter. 

“And got mired in the slush and mud. _How dumb can they be and live?”_

“You don’t think they’ll try to take revenge, do you?” 

Chris laughed. “No, do you think they can really _think_ that hard? Planning is obviously a tough thing for them.”

His laughter stirred the sleeping man in Victor’s arms. “Hey beautiful, are you awake?”

“A little.”

“What’s your name?”

“Yuuri. You think I’m beautiful?”

Relieved to _finally_ have a name, Victor smiled. “I definitely think you’re beautiful.” He felt a soft, sleepy chuckle against his chest before his prince, _Yuuri,_ went back to sleep. 

None of them noticed the soft sound of cloven hooves on the path behind them.


	4. In which Yuuri is no longer on ice

_What a crazy dream._

Yuuri felt himself slowly floating toward consciousness, and fleeting images that made no sense were flashing in front of his mind’s eye. Purple trees, red trees, green trees, the smell of minerals and steam. Freezing cold. Bright light. The most beautiful blue eyes. Some strange animal. Clearly, total crap.

He groaned. It was time to wake up, he was sure he’d slept later than he was supposed to. He cracked open his eye lids.

That was not his ceiling. It was a sheet of blue fabric.

This was not his bed. It was too soft and squishy.

Yuuri shot up, looking around in a panic. _Where the hell am I?_ He was in a bed, a really fancy bed with a canopy, and to his right was a really big bedroom with furniture that was nothing like what he was familiar with. To his left—

There was a gorgeous, silver-haired man sleeping next to him.

Yuuri screamed. 

The man woke up and jumped a mile. “Yuuri! What’s wrong?!”

“Who—how—where—my name?” He watched silver eyebrows draw together. “Why are we – did we sleep together?” Panic, pure and unadulterated panic, was making it hard to breathe.

“NO! No, we didn’t sleep together. Well, we slept, but we didn’t do anything intimate. I wouldn’t do that to someone.” He looked a little hurt. “Don’t you remember me?”

Yuuri shook his head mutely. He would definitely remember someone as beautiful as this man. His eyes…they were almost familiar. He’d never seen eyes that blue. His hair looked like silver silk falling over his forehead, and Yuuri longed to run his fingers through it. He was pretty sure he’d never wanted to kiss anyone as much as he wanted to kiss him.

The handsome man shook his head, smiling sadly. “Well, then, I should probably not be in bed with you. Do you want to go talk in the sitting room? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Need to relieve yourself?”

Suddenly, Yuuri was aware that all three of those things were fighting for top priority. “Yes, uh, yes.”

“Here, scoot out of bed, and I’ll show you where to go, and I’ll order something to eat.”

Yuuri got out of the bed, almost falling when he saw how far it was off the floor. It seemed odd. The entire room was just…off. His eyes roamed the walls (stone, with wood up to about his waist), with woven fabric pictures, and very realistic paintings. The furniture was just weird. The colors were all nice, though, the wood was stained dark, and things were mostly blue and green.

The strange man touched his shoulder very gently to draw his attention. “We have indoor plumbing, the necessary is this way.” He led Yuuri down a short hallway to a large room with a big tub and through a second door. “In here. You can wash up at the sink--” he pointed to it “—I’ll leave you a clean towel. I’ll wait outside.”

 _Indoor plumbing?_ Luckily, Yuuri was intelligent and figured it out quickly. The sink didn’t have a pump, it had a dainty handle, and when he turned it water came out. Warm water. “Whoa.” Wherever the hell he was, it was really nice. He hurriedly washed his hands and face with rose-scented soap and dried off using the obscenely soft towel. 

The beautiful man was standing a little ways from the door looking concerned, but smiled when he saw him. “Alexei is bringing up tea. We slept completely through dinner at court.”

“Who is Alexei? Who are _you?_ ” Yuuri asked, feeling panic rising in his throat.

“You don’t—of course not. I’m Victor. If you remembered me you wouldn’t have freaked out when you woke up in my bed. Come sit, we’ll eat and I’ll tell you everything.” He gestured for Yuuri to precede him into the room down the hall.

“Wait!” Yuuri patted himself down, and was relieved when he found his glasses in his right pocket. “Good, they’re not broken.” He put them on his nose. From the look on Victor’s face, he approved. Yuuri blushed.

The room was similar to the bedroom, but with different kinds of furniture. Candles that smelled like honey were lit, and all of the windows were open to a cool breeze. Immediately, a large dog jumped up and ran to him, barking happily. Dogs, Yuuri could deal with, even dogs that he had no idea where they came from. He accepted the enthusiastic canine hugs and kisses with a laugh. He heard Victor laugh, too.

“Makkachin likes you, that means you’re welcome here. Down, Makka. Let Yuuri sit down.” Victor indicated that he should sit. “Here, sit on the sofa. It’s more comfortable than the chairs, and you’ll be able to reach the food when it comes.”

Yuuri sat down gingerly on one end, watching as Victor dropped down on the other then sat sideways with his back against arm. Before they could say anything, a man came in with a tray of food. It looked completely unfamiliar. He did recognize that there was a teapot on the tray, though. 

“Thanks, Alexei. Do you want to stay?”

 _Please stay,_ Yuuri pleaded mentally. What if Victor had nefarious intentions? Would it be better to have a witness? He couldn’t imagine beautiful Victor being evil, but _what if?_

“Definitely, I have to hear this entire story.” Alexei made himself comfortable in a chair. “Okay, start from the beginning.”

“Calm down, I’m pretty sure I need to feed Yuuri first.” Victor poured tea. “Do you like milk and sugar?”

Yuuri was horrified. _“IN TEA?!”_

“I’ll take that as a no.” He passed the tea cup to Yuuri. “It looks like these are ham sandwiches. Do you like them?”

“I have no idea.” Yuuri sipped the tea. It was weird, but at least it was tea. Victor was stirring milk and sugar into his tea, and he tried to suppress is disgust.

“So, from the beginning. Three days ago, I rode into the Old Forest, and found a glowing, frozen pond, and there was an altar in the middle. While I was watching, some unicorns came out of the trees, and tried to attack me.”

“What are unicorns?” He watched shock form on Victor’s and Alexei’s faces. “What?”

“You don’t know what unicorns are?” 

Yuuri shook his head. 

“They look like a cross between a horse and a deer, but they’re white, and have a horn on their forehead. They protect virgins.”

Instantly embarrassed, Yuuri tried to cover his blushes with drinking tea. “I can’t, um, picture it.”

“Hang on,” Victor said, and he stood and walked to the next room. He came back in a moment with a book. He sat and thumbed through it. “Here, this is a unicorn.” 

Yuuri looked at the painting in the book, vaguely amazed that a book could have big, glossy pictures in it. The unicorn was graceful and beautiful, and the horn was a delicate spiral of shimmering ivory. “Oh, it’s so pretty.”

“They’re really dumb.” Victor chuckled. “Anyway, I ran away from the unicorns and came back home. Yesterday, I went back with my friend Chris to make sure I wasn’t insane. More unicorns tried to attack us, but they were really stupid and couldn’t catch us, and we got away. Today, we went back with ice skates so we could get to the altar in the center. You were sleeping on the altar surrounded by blue roses. I kissed you to wake you up. You said you’d come with me, and asked me to stay with you, so I brought you home.”

“Where is ‘home’?”

“We’re in the capital city of Rus.”

Yuuri didn’t recognize the name of the country. He shook his head.

“Where are you from?”

“I…don’t know.” Yuuri felt his eyes going wide and the panic that was just under the surface rising up again. “I don’t know. I don’t know.” He started to cry, he couldn’t hold it in.

“Oh, Yuuri, it’s okay,” Victor soothed, pulling him into his arms. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

He pulled off his glasses and buried his face in Victor’s shoulder. “I can’t remember anything,” he sobbed. The arms around him tightened.

“You’re safe here, _lyubov moya,_ we’ll figure it out, it will be okay, I promise.”

Yuuri cried for a few minutes, or maybe more than a few, terrified and devastated and confused. All the while, Victor stroked his hair and rocked him, whispering in a language he didn’t understand. In fact, he wondered what the hell language they were speaking because he could tell it wasn’t his native language, even though he couldn’t remember what it actually was. He looked down when a hand touched his knee.

“Thank you.” The other man, Alexei, had knelt in front of him, and pressed a handkerchief into his hand. He wiped his nose and tried to dry his eyes, but tears were still leaking out. “I’m sorry.”

“What on earth are you sorry about? You’ve done nothing wrong, Yuuri.” 

Victor kissed his forehead, and Yuuri couldn’t help melting into it. “I’m so confused.”

“I know, _lyubov moya,_ but we’ll work it out.”

“Do you know why I was sleeping on a frozen pond in the forest?” He felt Victor shake his head.

“No. But princes find sleeping princesses in forests and abandoned castles sometimes. I was happy to see that you weren’t a girl.”

Shocked, Yuuri pulled back to show his completely alarmed face to Victor. “You’re a _prince?”_

“Unfortunately, yes.” Victor smiled sadly. “Are you a prince?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I have no idea. Should I bow or kneel or something?”

“Of course not.”

Alexei laughed. “Victor is a very casual prince. I’m actually his servant, but he doesn’t act like it.”

“Is this a castle?” Yuuri put his glasses back on and looked around at all of the furnishings. 

Victor nodded. “Yes, this is my sitting room.”

“I can’t remember anything about my home, just that it was _nothing_ like this.” 

“What do you remember? Anything?”

He stared into Victor’s beautiful blue eyes. “I feel like my memories are just out of reach. What language are we speaking?”

“The common tongue, pretty much everyone in the known world uses it.”

“I know I didn’t know this language before. Are there other languages in your known world?”

“Of course, most people at court speak both Russian and the common tongue, and many also speak the languages of our allies. My best friend is from a kingdom called Schweiz, where they speak so many languages it’s confusing. Every language has a different name for the kingdom, too.”

“Oh.” Yuuri looked down. “This outfit is nothing like my homeland. I just don’t know why.”

“You look beautiful in it. We’ll have to get you some other clothes, though. Alexei?”

The other man nodded. “I’m on it.” 

They all stopped when bells chimed, then rang out eight times. “It’s not as late as I thought.”

“Is that good?”

“Yes, more can happen when the staff hasn’t gone to bed yet.” Victor picked up a sandwich. “Here, eat. You’ll feel better. If you want something else, I’ll get it for you.”

“I don’t think I’m going to recognize any of the food here, just that it’s not what I’m used to.” Yuuri nibbled on the sandwich. It was good. 

“I don’t want you to think I’m putting _any_ pressure on you, but would you like to use the spare bedroom here in my suite? Or would you want your own guest suite?” He grinned when he saw the look of bewilderment that was clearly on Yuuri’s face. “You can also share my bed, but I don’t expect that.”

Yuuri blushed so hard it hurt. He desperately, _desperately,_ wanted to share Victor’s bed. His heart wanted to beat out of his chest. “I don’t know what I want.” He looked into those beautiful eyes, like living aquamarines or sapphires. “Maybe, the room here? I…I don’t want to be too far from you.” The last part was a whisper. He felt Victor gently cup his cheek.

“I don’t want to be away from you, either. I’ve never felt this way before.” Victor was whispering too. “Yuuri, can I kiss you again?”

He nodded. He’d have to be a moron to not kiss a man like Victor. Yuuri had had crushes before (he thought), but he wanted to fall in love with Victor. Or, fall more. He watched Victor lean close, and let his eyes drift closed as their lips touched. Yuuri felt like he had no idea what he was doing, he was pretty sure he’d never kissed anyone before, but Victor didn’t seem to mind. They drifted closer, until Victor had gently pulled Yuuri into his arms, and Yuuri wound his arms around the gorgeous prince’s neck. He had no idea how long they kissed, every time one ended, another one began. When Victor pulled away just a fraction, it took a moment for Yuuri to open his eyes. When he did, he had no doubt about what Victor’s feelings.

Victor loved him.

But _why?_

_I don’t care. I love him. He loves me. Right now, I don’t care. I’ll worry tomorrow._

“Yuuri,” Victor breathed. “I have no idea what happened, but I’m so glad I got to meet you.”

The man in question nodded. “Me too.” He finally gave in and ran in his fingers through Victor’s pretty hair. “You’re beautiful, and kind, and I’m still terrified but I want to be terrified with you.” God that sounded stupid. “I mean, if, I mean, I don’t even know what I mean.” Yuuri relaxed as Victor pulled him close again and chuckled softly.

“No, I get it. I’d be terrified, too. I’ll keep you safe until we can find out what’s going on. You’re so precious to me.”

Yuuri nodded against Victor’s shoulder. He both felt and heard that his prince was humming. “What song is that?” Not that he’d know it, but still.

“It’s a popular song at court right now, the title translates to ‘stay close to me and never leave’. It seemed appropriate.”

Yuuri wanted to promise that he’d never leave Victor, because he really didn’t want to, but he had no idea what life he’d left behind, and if he’d want to go back to it. “It’s pretty.”

They were still holding each other when Alexei came back with a pile of fabric. “Alright, Yuuri, I have some clothes, let’s see what fits well enough for the next day or two, and we’ll get everything tailored. I’m sure Victor would be happy to conspire with his tailor to design clothes for you.”

“Oh, these are some of my clothes!” Victor exclaimed. “I was shorter and thinner when I wore these, so they should fit you fairly well.”

“Um, can I change somewhere else?” Yuuri wasn’t quite ready to strip in front of Victor. Or Alexei. 

“Of course, here.” Alexei opened a door that lead into Victor’s bedroom. “If you need any help, just yell. Helping Victor get dressed is my job, I promise I won’t embarrass you. Especially if these aren’t the style you’re used to.”

Yuuri nodded, taking the soft white shirt and grey trousers. He knew that he hadn’t worn clothes like this before, but not what he usually _did_ wear, and it was infuriating. It took a few tries to figure out how to get _out_ of his sparkly blue outfit, but it was easy enough to put on the clothes Alexei had given him. He felt a little thrill to know that Victor had worn these. The fabric of the shirt felt familiar, even if the style did not. _Silk,_ his mind whispered. He went out into the sitting room.

“I’m not sure how these are supposed to fit. Do they fit?”

Alexei eyed him critically. “Very well, actually. You’re a little taller than Victor was when he wore these trousers, I’ll have to let the hem out. The shirt looks very nice, the sleeves are only a little too long, but if I tighten the cuffs they won’t fall over the back of your hand too far.” He went through the stack of clothes and pulled out a garment that was more colorful. “Here, let’s try the waistcoat with it.” 

Yuuri looked at it. It was soft and a little shiny, with a pattern of blue-grey and muted lavender flowers on a darker grey background. He slipped it over his shoulders, tugging a little to settle it. “Like this?”

Alexei nodded, then moved to fasten it with the mother of pearl buttons. He stepped back. “You look great. The waistcoat is almost perfect. You can wear this tomorrow for dinner, let’s see what casual wear we have in this pile.” He rifled through the options. “Ah. Here, try these trousers, and this shirt.”

Unlike the fitted clothes of fine fabric he’d just had on, these were looser and less silky. _Cotton,_ Yuuri’s mind supplied. The trousers were a heavier cotton, and a greyish green, the shirt was creamy and almost softer than the silk, without ruffles at the cuffs or the throat. Still not what he’d worn before, but more comfortable. Yuuri went back into the sitting room to model for Victor and Alexei.

“Very respectable. These trousers are almost perfect. Here, try this with it.”

It was another waistcoat, this time of lightweight brown leather. “Do I button it up?”

Victor shook his head. “No, leave it open. I was sad when I got too tall for that vest, it was a gift from my mother. See the rose pattern at the bottom? That’s the emblem of her family crest.” He approached Yuuri and began to roll up the sleeves of the shirt. “During the day you can get away with this, much more comfortable, and cooler when it’s warm outside.” He kissed Yuuri’s forehead again. “You look wonderful.”

“Thank you,” Yuuri whispered, blushing. Victor seemed to think he was really attractive. It was a nice feeling, even if he thought it was a little inaccurate. 

“I have underwear and socks, too, but I don’t think any of Victor’s shoes would fit you, even from when he was younger. You have small feet.”

“I can wear the shoes I woke up with, I guess.”

“We’ll get you some proper shoes, not to worry.” Alexei shook out another outfit. “Here, change into this, you can lounge in it until you go to bed.”

It was a loose knit tunic in a soft blue, and trousers that were a little darker. It was extremely comfortable and light. When he went back into the sitting room, Victor smiled at him and it warmed him from his toes to his scalp. “This is nice.”

“You look adorable. I think you need a real meal, not just finger sandwiches. Alexei, can you get him a hot dinner?”

“You need one, too. I’ll get something sent up. And make sure the bedding is fresh in your spare room. Chris hasn’t crashed in there yet this summer.”

Victor tugged Yuuri by the hand back to the sofa. “Here, sit. Drink your tea. I need to let Chris know what’s happened.” He physically placed the tea cup in Yuuri’s hands before walking into the room where the unicorn book had come from. He returned quickly with a small item and a pencil.

Yuuri looked with intense curiosity as Victor unfolded a paper bird, scribbled something on it, refolded it, and kissed it. But that was nothing compared to his surprise when it _fucking flew out the window on its own._

“What was that?!” The paper bird seemed very familiar, but the memory wasn’t quite there.

“A magic bird. I can send messages to Chris with it. When I was a kid, we found a magical fox lady in the woods and she gave it to us for letting her out of a cage.”

Mind. Blown.

Victor sat on the sofa and picked up his tea. “I doubt he went to dinner and court if I wasn’t there. If he’s in his room, he’ll write back right away.” He sipped his tea, but made a face. “Ugh. Cold.”

Yuuri couldn’t look away from Victor. A _prince,_ who had found him in the fucking forest, asleep on a frozen pond, and _kissed him awake._ “Victor, why did you kiss me when you found me?”

“It’s a well-known procedure for waking sleeping princesses. For some reason, cursed or bespelled princesses can only be awakened with true-love’s first kiss.”

“This happens frequently enough in Rus that everyone just knows what to do?” Yuuri was highly skeptical. 

Victor laughed. “No, but there are dozens of fairy tales about it. One of the mages at court did his thesis on the sleeping spell, and even demonstrated on a mouse how you can set the spell for other conditions to wake the sleeper up. He put the mouse to sleep, and it was so still it seemed dead, but he had made the waking condition the scent of honeysuckle, and when he put flowers by the mouse, it woke up. We tried _everything_ to make it wake up and nothing worked but the flowers.”

“Weren’t you afraid I was dead?” 

“It never occurred to me. When we got up close to the altar, there was this web of light protecting you. Chris wears a unicorn hair bracelet, and it can break enchantments. I used it to break the web. When I saw you…” Victor closed his eyes. “You were so beautiful,” he whispered. “I would have done anything at that moment to kiss you. And when you opened your eyes…”

Yuuri felt emotion grip him, overwhelming and confusing. He set his untouched tea on the table and moved closer to Victor. “I’m glad it was you.” Very shyly, he brushed his fingers across Victor’s lips, and kissed him.

Like their first, well, second kiss, it started very sweet and innocent, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Yuuri started a little when he felt Victor’s tongue tease his lower lip, but figured out quickly that he should open his mouth. The strange, sensual pleasure of feeling Victor’s tongue stroking his was shocking and new, but _amazing._ Before he knew it, his fingers were tangled in Victor’s hair and strong hands were gripping him, and Yuuri was pretty sure whatever he’d considered arousing before was crap compared to _this._

“I’m gone for five minutes,” an amused voice complained from the doorway.

Yuuri jumped back like he’d just been caught making out with a boy by him mom, but it was actually just Alexei and they weren’t likely to get anything worse than teased. Still, he was embarrassed. And really, he’d known Victor a couple hours, and had no idea who _he_ was, let alone this prince of a kingdom he’d never heard of, and things needed to slow the fuck down.

Victor cleared his throat and straightened his shirt. “Ahem. What’s for dinner?”

Alexei was setting the heavy tray on the table. “Cook had just pulled a pot of stew off the fire for the staff, and was happy to send some up with bread and butter. He even gave me spice cake.” There were three servings, so Yuuri assumed Alexei was eating with them.

Stew was…different. But delicious. Very rich, with large chunks of meat and vegetables, and herbs so fragrant it was almost floral. Yuuri was fairly sure bread wasn’t a thing in his homeland, because no amount of magic could make anyone forget something this good. 

“Here, put a little butter on the bread, and dip it in the stew,” Alexei instructed, then demonstrated. 

It greatly enhanced an already orgasmic experience. “I’m going to gain weight while I’m here if the food is this good.” Suddenly he knew that he struggled with his weight.

Victor chuckled. “A struggle we all live with. We’ll have to be sure to get plenty of exercise.”

“I can’t believe you managed to say that with no innuendo, Victor.”

Yuuri blushed. He could imagine the exercise that Alexei was referring to.

“Shut up, I was actually thinking about riding.”

“Riding something,” Alexei muttered.

Yuuri was fairly certain that he couldn’t blush any harder. “I’m right here, you know.”

Victor squeezed his arm. “Do you know how to ride? A horse, thank you Alexei.”

“I’m pretty sure the answer is no.” He was disappointed. Riding with Victor sounded nice.

“Well, then, learning to ride will be good exercise for you. You can ride Liebchen, she’s super calm and gentle.” 

Okay, so riding with Victor could still be a thing. “Alright.”

“I’ll dig out some of Victor’s old riding leathers for you. But you can’t ride until you have boots. What time should I have the cobbler come by tomorrow?”

Victor made a show of considering. Yuuri was getting the impression that he was a little on the dramatic side. “Maybe 9:30 or 10? I have to sit audiences at 1:00.” He made a face. “I hope I’m not there all afternoon.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the paper bird, which landed softly on top of the teapot. Victor set down his bowl and read the message. “Chris says he’ll see us tomorrow, and congratulations on waking up in my bed.”

“Um, okay.”

“You’ll get used to them,” Alexei offered, amused. “I take it you don’t remember meeting Chris?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I don’t remember that part.”

“You’ll understand when you meet him again.” Alexei touched the side of the teapot lightly to test the temperature, then settled his fingers on it more firmly. After a moment he asked, “Pass me your cup?”

Mystified, Yuuri put his cold tea cup in the valet’s hands. Before his eyes, it began to steam. When Alexei held it out, he took it. “How… I mean, thank you.” He’d apparently forgotten manners at some point while he was sleeping.

“Magic. I don’t have a lot of power, but I can do useful things like warm up tea and dry Victor’s hair.”

“And keep the bathwater hot, and light candles, and make wrinkles fall out of anything by some secret sorcery.”

“That’s not a secret, that’s getting it damp and hot at the same time. Steam.” 

“Does it take a long time for your hair to dry?” He had short hair, that seemed weird.

Victor chuckled. “Not now, but my hair used to be down to my hips.”

Yuuri gaped. “It must have been beautiful.” He couldn’t quite picture it, but his vague imaginings were angelic. 

“I think it was, but a few years ago I decided it was time to look more mature.”

“Are you finished, Yuuri? Would you like your cake?”

“Spice cake is my favorite,” Victor commented as he accepted the small plate and a fork. 

The fork felt strange in Yuuri’s fingers, but he didn’t actually have any problem using it. And cake…cake was even better than bread. “This is amazing.”

“Wait until you get to experience Cook’s blackberry tart.” 

By the time he finished the cake, Yuuri was full, and with fullness came sleepiness. He tried to cover his yawns, but they were too obvious.

“You need to sleep, I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking keeping you up.” Victor pulled him to his feet. “Here, let me show you where the guest room is.”

They passed through the room where the book and bird had come from, clearly Victor’s office, and into another hallway. Victor steered him into the open door directly across the hall. “This is your room. Is it okay?”

Yuuri looked around in awe. The room wasn’t terribly large, but it was opulent, and decorated all in soft browns and blues. The bed looked big enough for three, and was piled with blankets and pillows; the small sofa sported more pillows and another blanket; there was a big cabinet on one wall, and windows open to the night breeze. “It’s so pretty.”

Victor looked relieved. “I’m glad you like it. I’ve slept on this bed plenty of times, it’s really comfortable. When we were little, Chris always used this room when he visited. When there’s more light tomorrow you can see that there’s a drawing of us his mother did above the fireplace.”

“Where’s your room? I’m lost.”

“Go straight through the office and out the door on the other side, and my bedroom door is right there. There’s a small water closet right there--” he pointed to the door next to Yuuri’s room, “—and Alexei is on the other side. If you need anything, you can get either of us. Alexei is a night owl and seems to need less sleep than a normal human being, so he’ll probably be up a lot later than I will, but you can wake me up, I don’t care.”

“Alright. Thank you, Victor. So much.” He looked up into those eyes. 

Victor wrapped him in his arms and kissed him. “Goodnight, _solnyshko.”_

“Goodnight.” _I love you._

“I’m going to take Makkachin out for a walk, but Alexei is here. I’ll be back soon.”

Yuuri nodded, and reluctantly moved into the bedroom. He couldn’t bring himself to close the door all the way, though. Alexei had turned down the bed, so all he had to do was blow out the candles and climb in. It was like falling into a cloud, it was so soft and there were so many down pillows. The linens were fragrant with herbs he didn’t recognize, and he felt homesick for a home he didn’t remember.

He listened to the sounds of the prince’s suite ( _the fucking prince of a kingdom_ ). He assumed the soft noises he heard were Alexei cleaning up the dinner dishes. He heard the door open and a happy bark; Victor taking his dog out. Yuuri stared at the ceiling, since this bed didn’t have a canopy, and tried to relax. He was exhausted but sleep wouldn’t come. Eventually he heard Victor and Makkachin come back, and Victor making noise, probably in the bathroom. Soon, it was completely still, and Yuuri felt very small, and very scared, and very lonely.

After a small amount of deliberation, he pushed back the blankets and put on his glasses. The room was dark, but it was easy to navigate out into the hall, through the office, and to arrive in front of Victor’s bedroom door. He stood there for a moment, thinking, then knocked very softly.

The door opened. “Yuuri? What’s wrong?”

At first, Yuuri’s brain simply stopped functioning at the sight of Victor in just a pair of low-slung pants, his muscular chest all bare and obscenely sexy, but he pulled himself together. “I can’t sleep. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Come here.” He pulled Yuuri into his arms, then pulled him into the room. “You can sleep with me.”

Makkachin was happy to see Yuuri, and jumped off the bed to greet him. “Hi, Makkachin.” He scratched behind the fluffy dog’s ears.

Victor pulled back the covers on the bed for Yuuri, and waited for him to climb in before getting back into bed himself. “I hope you don’t mind, I tend to, um, snuggle.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Yuuri breathed, not quite believing that he’d be snuggling up to that sexy fucking chest. He turned on his side to face Victor. “I barely move in my sleep, so I doubt I’ll fight you. Not that I want to.” What kind of idiot wouldn’t want to snuggle with Victor, really.

With a sweet smile that would have thawed the most frigid of hearts, Victor opened his arms, inviting Yuuri to move into his embrace. Happily, Yuuri cuddled up to him, and felt those strong arms holding him close. He sighed. “This is so much better. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome to join me any time, _lyubov moya._ I want to hold you.”

“Thank you.” Feeling a little bold, he kissed the warm skin beneath his lips. “I like being held by you.”

He felt Victor kiss the top of his head. “Goodnight again, _solnyshko.”_

“Goodnight.” 

Just as Yuuri was drifting off, he heard his mind whisper _“oyasumi nasai,”_ but it slipped away like smoke, and he fell into dreamland.

Visual aids: 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/28811403518/in/dateposted-public/)

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/42684511691/in/dateposted-public/)

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/27815942117/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm stuck with the blessing/curse of an obsession with writing Chris and Tristan getting together, I'll let you know when I post it! As you can see, I posed some visual aides!
> 
> 1\. Of course, Tristan is Masumi, I thought I should clarify that. Kubo-sensei said that's not his real name, so I gave him one that sounded better for someone from Switzerland. Tristan is an extremely romantic name. I didn't realize until I was obsessively looking for info about YOI that Masumi is an ice dancer. Cue adorable skating scene? It has to be at Midwinter, since their ship name is ChrisMasu (Christmas).
> 
> 2\. Victor's outfit for dinner the second night was inspired by this outfit that Javier Fernandez skated in. I'm going to slip real skaters' costumes in, watch for it. I'm not sure that any of Yuzuru Hanyu's costumes will be appropriate though, lol. I love seeing fan art of Yuuri in his costumes.
> 
> 3\. This is how I picture the unicorns in my story! Only more realistic, since, you know, 70s animation style. I was about to say "if I have time" but school gets out next Thursday so I'll have a fuckload of time. So with all of my time, I'll probably draw the picture of the unicorn in Victor's book. It's a picture book he kept from when he was little of a bunch of mythological creatures.
> 
> Would anyone like a visual aide of how Victor's rooms are laid out? I can upload a drawing. I have to draw plans of the rooms in my stories so I don't contradict myself later. Oh! I forgot! Chris's horse is named Tanzen, which means 'dance' in German. Liebchen means 'little love' in German, and used like darling. You've probably seen them a million times in other fic, but ljubov moya is 'my love' and solnyshko is 'little sun' in Russian. And if you don't know that oyasumi nasai is 'goodnight' in Japanese you've failed as an anime fan.


	5. In which Yuuri feels really awkward and Alexei is a sassmaster

Victor woke to one of his favorite sensations: snuggling. There was a warm body in his arms, and he was fairly certain he remembered who it was, so he was content to float for a few moments. _Yuuri. It’s Yuuri cuddled up to me. My true love._

But… _was_ Yuuri his true love?

He absolutely, 100% felt utter love and devotion to Yuuri right now, and couldn’t imagine a moment when that would end. But was it the magic? What if it wore off at some point and…no, he wasn’t going to stop loving Yuuri. Even if the magic wore off, the genuine affection he felt for him would no doubt deepen into real love. 

But what if _Yuuri_ stopped loving _him?_

 _Can I be the man that Yuuri needs? Can I be his true love?_ Victor was under no illusions about himself. Even if he cast himself the best of lights, he was far from perfect, and at some point, people with negative opinions of him would share them with Yuuri. He wanted to believe that he was good enough for Yuuri just as he was, but had doubts. Then again, not even Yuuri knew what Yuuri expected from a boyfriend, so he didn’t really know where to go with that.

A soft, adorable sound from the other man led Victor to open his eyes, and look down at the slumbering beauty next to him. Yuuri was pressed against his side with one arm over his chest, his cheeks lightly flushed, and his hair an absolute mess. Part of Victor wanted to kiss him awake again, but another part thought he might need more sleep. Unable to resist, he brushed his fingers through Yuuri’s hair. _My beautiful Yuuri. My love. Please be mine forever._

When it became clear that Makkachin was getting up, even if his people were not, Victor eased himself out of bed to avoid disturbing Yuuri. He dressed quickly and quietly, and took Makka out for a walk. The suite was still quiet, which meant his lazy valet was still asleep (he actually didn’t care one iota), and the halls of the palace were nearly as still. In theory, Victor knew it must be really early, but when he caught sight of the grandfather clock at the entrance to the royal wing and saw that it was only 6:15, he realized that a few servants and his father were probably the only people moving in the palace. Oh well, fewer people to bug him in the gardens. 

Victor sat on a stone bench while Makka ran all over the lawns, chasing birds and bunnies (he’d never caught a single animal, for which Victor was grateful), thinking about Yuuri. He wanted to find out every little thing that Yuuri loved, so he could do all of them. He wanted to take Yuuri swimming at his favorite lake when it was hot, and take him to his aunt’s party next week, and watch fireworks with him at midsummer. He wanted to wake up with him on cold, frosty mornings when it was just a little too chilly to get out from under the blankets. He wanted to take him skating, maybe even skiing, and celebrate Midwinter cuddled up together in his suite in Schweitz with Yuuri. While is rational brain told him he didn’t even _know_ Yuuri yet, his heart told him he knew everything he needed. It was kind of confusing and concerning. 

Eventually he was too restless to let Makka play, and whistled for the pup to go back in. He’d want to go back out in an hour after breakfast, anyway. Maybe Yuuri would be awake then and could come outside with them. 

Well, Yuuri was going to be awake because when they went back into the room, Makka leaped onto the bed and attacked him with puppy kisses. Which led Yuuri to shriek and jump, and Victor to crack up laughing. “No, Makkachin, get down!” he protested weakly. He crossed to the bed and removed his affectionate dog from the confused man. “Sorry. Good morning, Yuuri.”

Yuuri sat up, feeling like he could use at least six more hours of sleep, but well aware that he normally felt like he could use about six more hours of sleep, no matter how long he slept. He was _not_ a morning person. He was also so happy to remember those things that he didn’t care that he was up at the ass crack of dawn. “Good morning. What time is it?”

“Just about 7:00.” As if to confirm it, the bells chimed the hour. Victor sat back down on the bed and leaned over to kiss Yuuri’s cheek. “Waking up with you was wonderful.”

“Oh,” he answered, a little weak. “You could have woken me up earlier.” 

“Are you a morning person?”

“Absolutely not.” Yuuri thought better of his statement. “But I’m a guest, I can get up when you get up.”

“Don’t be silly, I’m the only person in the palace that gets up this early. Most of court doesn’t stir before 10. Would you like breakfast?”

Yuuri’s stomach rumbled. “Yes, actually, but…could I take a bath? I don’t actually know how long I was in the forest, and my hair feels gross.”

Victor smacked himself on the forehead. “Duh, of course. Let me run a bath for you, then I’ll order us breakfast.” He got up from the bed and fished around in the wardrobe. “Here, you can put on my robe when you get out.” 

Yuuri followed Victor into the large bathroom. “How hot do you like the water?” 

“Fairly hot, I think.” Yuuri had a strange feeling of distortion, like this wasn’t how baths happened for him. 

“Here, see how this is.” 

Yuuri tested the water, and it was pretty much perfect. “This is great.”

“What kind of soap do you want?”

Yuuri gave him a look that implied Victor was insane. “How many kinds of soap do you have?”

Victor opened a small cabinet on the back wall. “Several. Come smell them and see which one you like the best.” He pulled bars out for Yuuri to sniff. “Rose, that’s what’s on the sink, lavender, sandalwood, that’s Alexei’s favorite, this one is just honey and almond oil, and this one smells really nice, I think it’s jasmine, I know it’s a flower that doesn’t grow here.”

Yuuri was relieved to recognize all of the scents. “I didn’t know one person could have so many soaps. I’ll take sandalwood, thanks.”

“Here are some towels, and a cloth to scrub with, and do you want a sponge, too?”

“No, I think this is enough.”

“Soak as long as you want. I’ll be in the sitting room when you’re done.”

As Yuuri watched Victor shut the door, he contemplated just what had happened in his life to end up in a prince’s bathroom debating soap choices. Sighing, he shut off the water and climbed into the huge tub. Victor had added something to the water to make it foamy and smell lovely. Now that he was awake, Yuuri was fairly certain he needed to start actually thinking instead of just reacting. 

“Let’s start with the facts,” he whispered to himself. “Number one, your memories are gone.” God that was terrifying. “Where am I even from? Will I actually get my memories back? If I do, do I want to go home?” Okay, that was too much to think about. “I want to go home in an abstract way, but like, I don’t know what home even _is_ , I might hate it there. And if I go home, I’ll have to leave Victor.”

Victor.

“Why am I in love with him?” he mused out loud. There was no question about it, he was absolutely head-over-heels for the silver-haired prince. Yuuri was 100% certain that he’d never even been kissed before last night, and now he was contemplating spending the rest of his life with a man he barely knew. It was confusing, and he felt like he would ordinarily be _a lot_ more worried about something this crazy than he was right now. It was…new. To feel loved, and to love someone. Scary, but so nice. But that led to the next logical question, why the hell did _Victor_ love _him?_ “ _I_ don’t even know me, how can he _like_ me?” It had to have something to do with whatever kind of fucked up magic and planted him in the middle of a frozen pond surrounded by murderously stupid one-horned creatures. 

What if he was here forever?

What if he was here forever, and Victor stopped loving him?

“What if I stop loving him?” Yuuri was fairly sure that wouldn’t happen. The feelings he had seemed to run _very_ deep. And what he’d learned of Victor last night made him seem like a man he would have fallen for no matter what. 

Deciding that if he didn’t have a lot of facts to work with, he could ask questions instead, Yuuri started compiling a list of questions to ask once he got out of the bathtub.

“Number one, how does magic work? Does Victor know? Why do princesses usually end up in this situation?”

Okay that was like 3 questions, that was enough. Yuuri washed with the wonderful-smelling soap, happy to rinse his hair clean, and climbed out of the tub (carefully). There was a soft mat on the floor to keep him from slipping, a nice touch. He found a gorgeously carved wooden comb in the cabinet, and hoped Victor wouldn’t mind that he used it to tame his hair. Victor’s robe as about ankle length on him, and was a softer-than-soft fabric that defied logic. It was the same beautiful blue as the prince’s eyes, and smelled like him. Yuuri inhaled deeply, was totally embarrassed, but did it again. 

A knock sounded on the door. “Yuuri? Breakfast is here.”

Leaving off his robe sniffing, Yuuri opened the door. “Thank you. What is breakfast in Rus?”

Victor took a moment to appreciate the adorable sight of Yuuri in his robe, and couldn’t resist giving him a kiss. “I got a couple different things, since I didn’t know what you’d like.”

The kiss reminded Yuuri of something. “Um, in Rus, do you…clean your teeth?”

Victor’s eyes went wide. “Oh gods, yes of course, you need a toothbrush. Hang on, I have extras.” He moved past Yuuri into the steamy bathroom, and rooted around in one of the cabinets. “Here, sorry, _solnyshko._ ” 

Yuuri laughed. “No, it’s one of those things you just do automatically, so you forget about it.”

“At first I thought you were complaining about my breath.”

Mildly horrified, Yuuri shook his head. “No! Of course not.” He looked down at the toothbrush. It was as pretty as the comb he’d used. “Wow, it’s fancy.”

“Is it? I don’t have a lot of experience with other people’s toothbrushes. Here’s a container of toothpaste. I hope you don’t think it’s weird, but I can’t share toothpaste.” Victor shuddered.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just, um, yah.” He went to the sink.

“I’ll be in the sitting room.”

A few minutes later, with freshly brushed teeth, Yuuri settled onto the sofa next to Victor and looked over the breakfast choices. Whatever it was, it all smelled _delicious._

“Welcome back. It looks like a lot, but Alexei is going to join us, I woke him up. What would you like?”

“Tell me what these things are first. Except this, these are clearly eggs.”

Victor laughed softly. “Yes, those are poached eggs. Toast, wait, you’ve never had bread, toast is bread that’s been, um, toasted?”

Yuuri had to laugh at that. “I know what toasted means.”

“Okay, good. Anyway. These are oatcakes, they’re crispy on the outside but soft in the middle, and you put butter and honey on them. Fried ham--”

“I’ve had that,” Yuuri interjected.

“—and these are blinis, they’re a Russian food. This is a thin pancake, wait, do you know what pancakes are?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I recognize the strawberries and cream, though. It looks delicious.” 

“Try these first, then,” Victor insisted, adding some to an empty plate, along with ham. “I don’t like when the eggs touch the blinis, so I’m not going to put them on the same plate for you.”

“Okay,” Yuuri agreed, privately thinking that Victor was the most adorable person ever. “Can I have some tea? I know it’s black tea, even if it’s different than my usual tea.”

“Of course.” He passed the plate and a fork to Yuuri and poured three cups of tea. “No cream and sugar?”

“No,” Yuuri replied with a shudder. “I think I’ve had honey in tea before, but gods above, not _milk.”_

Victor laughed. “Most people here drink it with milk and sugar. My mother used to have a blend that she put lemon and honey in, but we can’t get it here anymore. The trader that was supplying it died and no one else trades with whatever part of the world it’s from.”

Yuuri cut a small bite of the blini and carefully lifted it to his mouth to avoid dripping strawberries down Victor’s beautiful robe. It wasn’t as sweet as he was expecting, it was rich and creamy, and the strawberries were at the peak of ripeness. It was _amazing._ “Ohmygod.”

“I knew you’d like them.” Victor helped himself to an egg and toast. “We’ll have to keep Alexei from eating all the oatcakes before you get a chance to try them.”

“I heard that.” 

Yuuri looked up from his fucking delicious blini to see that Victor’s valet had joined them. He waved with his fork but didn’t stop eating. _I’m going to get so fucking fat staying here._ He knew, somehow, that he tended to eat when he was stressed out. Being lost with no memories in a foreign country kinda defined the word ‘stress.’ And this food was worth binging. 

“You know oatcakes are your favorite.”

“Only because I’ve never convinced Cook to let me have strawberry blinis for breakfast. I should make you get your own breakfast more often.” Alexei added blinis, as well as oatcakes, to his own plate. 

“He felt sorry for the poor, lost prince who wandered into the kitchen because his most trusted servant was still asleep at almost 8am.”

“Hah, you asked Rosalia, and it took one smile and a flutter of your long silver eyelashes and she produced this multi-course feast.”

Yuuri was watching the bickering with curiosity and amusement. He didn’t have a full set of life experiences behind him right now, but he was fairly certain that most of the time royalty and their servants didn’t share breakfast or argue like siblings. Victor genuinely saw Alexei as an equal that just happened to be his valet, not a person of servant ‘class.’ He wondered how long Alexei had been working for Victor for them to have such a close relationship, since he certainly didn’t look very old. Of course, he didn’t actually know how old Victor was, either. _Or how old I am. 23? I think I’m 23._

“Yuuri, here, try an oatcake, they’re really good.” Alexei put one on his plate. “I’m capable of sharing.”

“Do you always eat like this for breakfast?” _God, how are they so fit?_

Victor laughed. “No, this is a special occasion. Normally I steal some kind of bread from the kitchen after I walk Makkachin then Alexei brings me two poached eggs with toast.”

“I eat whatever crumbs my master leaves for me.”

“Fuck you, you almost always eat with me,” Victor laughed. “Or in the kitchen with Natalya.” 

“Natalya is old news, Victor, we haven’t seen each other in ages.”

“I heard her in your room Sunday.”

“You did not. I would not invade the sanctity of the Royal Wing and the Crown Prince’s Royal Suite to entertain a female companion, Natalya or otherwise. But it wasn’t Natalya.” 

“There’s bullshit, and then there’s what just fell out of your mouth.”

“I’m devastated that you don’t believe me.” Alexei was clearly not devastated. He was, in fact, enjoying a slice of ham. “Stop it, I think you’re embarrassing Yuuri.”

Yuuri froze mid chew, since now all eyes were on him. He swallowed. “No, I’m fine. You can keep picking on each other.”

Alexei laughed. “I swear by the Lady’s Crown that it was not Natalya in my room Sunday.”

“I guess if you’re going to bring religion into it, I’ll have to believe you.” Victor smiled at Yuuri. “What do you think of oatcakes?”

“Very good. I like the blinis better, though. They taste less healthy.” 

Victor laughed. “They’re definitely less healthy when they’re stuffed with cream and strawberries and who knows how much sugar. You can put basically anything in a blini, sweet or savory.”

“Ham and cheese with spring onions is my personal favorite,” Alexei commented. 

“I hope I can repay you with food from my homeland someday.” Yuuri tried not to feel sad, but felt sad anyway. 

“I know you will,” Victor said with a conviction so sincere that Yuuri found himself believing him. “I don’t know a lot about magic, but there are plenty of mages here at court. And if we’re lucky, a very famous sorceress will be arriving in the next few days, and I know she’d love to help. As much as I don’t want you to leave me, I want you to be happy, and you need your memories to know if you are or not.”

Yuuri looked down, blushing. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I’m pretty happy right this minute.” He looked up into Victor’s eyes. “On the verge of panicking, but otherwise happy.”

“Should I ask what you’re panicking about, or is it just everything?”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Why don’t we start with something you can control?” Alexei asked. “That will help. You can decide right now if you want to get dressed or stay in your robe until the cobbler comes. It’s 100% your choice.”

That actually did make Yuuri feel better. “I think I’d like to get dressed. And maybe have more tea?” 

“Perfect, I’ll lay out your clothes on Victor’s bed, and start a fresh pot of tea.” Alexei stood and squeezed Yuuri’s shoulder. “I tell Victor at least once a day that everything will be okay. I’ll tell you, too. And it will be just as true.”

Alone in the room, Yuuri looked at Victor again, overwhelmed by how gorgeous and sweet and funny and perfect he was. _If I’d been trying to design the ideal man, it would be Victor._

“What are you thinking about?” Victor murmured. 

Yuuri realized he was staring. “Sorry. Thank you for everything you’re doing for me, Victor.”

“It’s a pleasure.”

“Taking care of a strange amnesiac that may or may not embarrass you at any moment with hysterical tears can’t be a pleasure.” 

Victor moved closer, and cupped Yuuri’s cheeks. _“Lyubov moya,_ I would move heaven and earth for you. A bath, breakfast, and clothes to wear seem pretty minor.” 

“But why?” Yuuri stared into those lagoon-blue eyes.

“Because I love you,” Victor whispered. 

Tears pricked in Yuuri’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks. “I love you, too, but I don’t know why.”

“I could be totally wrong, but I think it’s why I could wake you with a kiss. It has to be the first kiss of true love to wake a sleeping princess. Or, well, prince, in your case.” Victor brushed the tears from Yuuri’s cheeks with his thumbs. “I just know that I feel like I could spend the rest of my life looking into your eyes.” 

“Oh.” Yuuri was a little breathless, hearing words like that from Victor was intoxicating. “I can’t promise you anything until I know who I am,” he whispered sadly. “I never want to be apart from you, but I don’t know where I’m from or what my life was like before.”

“I know, Yuuri.” Victor pulled him into his arms. “I don’t expect that.”

Just being in Victor’s arms filled Yuuri with peace. “Thank you.” He looked up, semi hoping for a kiss. 

Victor was more than willing to provide a kiss. Then another one. Then a deeper, longer kiss that was more satisfying. He moaned when he felt Yuuri tentatively put his hands on his chest, and tightened his arms around his waist. He was starting to contemplate pushing aside the collar of the robe and dragging his lips down Yuuri’s neck.

“Seriously, I’m gone five minutes.”

Yuuri jumped back, embarrassed again by Alexei walking into the room. “Um, sorry.”

Alexei laughed. “Don’t apologize. I’d kiss him too, if I was into guys. I put your clothes on the bed. Victor’s wardrobe is too packed with stuff to keep your clothes in there, though, so the other things you have or get will have to be in your room.”

“Okay.” Of course Victor had tons of clothes. Someone that pretty dressed up. “I’ll, just, go. Okay.” He stood awkwardly and headed into Victor’s bedroom.

Alexei had also made the bed and straightened the room thoroughly before Yuuri got there. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he didn’t have servants at home. The clothes had been freshly ironed and smelled a little like flowers. He slipped into them, but didn’t put on shoes or socks. He had the impression that he spent most of his time without shoes on, especially during the summer. Maybe it was very warm where he was from? Or was he super poor, that would be depressing. Oh well.

Victor smiled when Yuuri came back in, wearing his clothes from when he was 17. “You look wonderful, Yuuri.” He stood and took his hands. “I have an outfit from when I fit in this that would look great on you. It’s black and grey, and has a belt with really lovely crystals on it. We’re heading into party season, I’d love to see you in it.”

“I’ll look for it,” Alexei commented. “It’s probably in your mother’s trunk to protect the fabric.”

“Can I say no if it’s too…crystaly?” 

“Yes,” Victor laughed. “But I’ll show you what other people wear for parties before you decide. It’s really very tame.” _But it will look fucking sexy on you._ Just imagining the sheer fabric of the shirt clinging to Yuuri’s body was giving him chills.

The bells chimed 9am. “We have about an hour until the cobbler comes, would you like to see the gardens?”

Yuuri was actually very interested in seeing something other than this room. “Sure. I’ll put on shoes.”

“I noticed you were barefoot.”

“I feel like my people don’t wear shoes as much as yours. Is that okay?”

“Of course. I don’t usually wear shoes in here, either.” 

Makkachin was very happy with a chance to go back outside, and bounded happily through the halls toward the garden doors. Victor normally went out the kitchen door when he went outside, and walked through the herb and vegetable gardens first, but figured that would be rude to do to a guest. There were plenty of ways to get into the massive gardens without going below stairs.

It was still early, and few courtiers were roaming the planted rows and artistic groves in the morning sunshine. There were a few clouds off to the west, but otherwise the sky was clear and bright. Victor watched Yuuri’s face as they stepped out onto the terrace. They were at the start of the rose garden, and nearly every hue imaginable was on display. From their vantage point above the beds, it was clear that each section was the shape of a petal on a large rose, so each ‘petal’ was a different color. The huge, stylized rose had been his mother’s idea when she was first married to the king, and she’d convinced the gardeners to _try_ setting up the garden that way. Before that, the garden had been really boring and limited to three colors of roses. Thanks to Queen Vasilysa, there were at least 20 colors now, including Victor’s favorite, blue. Sara Crispino had told him that it was clear that every velvety petal was glowing with the loving touch of a powerful horticulture talent. If his mother had known she was a mage, she’d never said. And the beauty of it was clearly just as enchanting to Yuuri as it was to Victor, even after all of these years.

“It’s huge! I didn’t know flowers could come in so many colors!” Yuuri looked at Victor with sparkling eyes. 

“This is just the rose garden. There a tons of other flowers, different kinds of trees, and lawns for having picnics and playing games.” Yuuri’s delight made Victor feel like it was the first time he’d seen the gardens himself. “My mother loved flowers, and made this place a work of art. See how the flower beds are laid out to make a big rose with different colored petals? That was her idea.”

“It’s beautiful. Can we walk down there?”

“Of course!” Victor steered Yuuri down the closest marble stairs and onto the graveled path. “These large stones bordering the path glow a little at night. The glass globes between the roses light up at night, too.” 

“How?”

“Magic. My mother designed all of the magic for the gardens, too. All of the spells are self-renewing, so a mage just needs to check on them occasionally to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“How does that work?”

“I don’t have a single clue.”

They traveled through the roses for a good length of time, Yuuri asking questions about the varieties and Victor giving the names, and for some, the meanings. “Red roses are typically given for love, white as a gentle let-down since they mean indifference, pink is sorta the flirt color, they mean romance but not lovey love, yellow is for friendship.” He pointed to the Sapphire Sky roses. “Blue means joy, they’re my favorite. I named my horse Rose because she had a wreath of blue roses around her neck when I got her.”

“What about the green ones? And the lavender ones? As opposed to the dark purple.”

“Green technically means a ‘rejuvenated spirit’ but at court giving your significant other green roses means you know they’re cheating. Lavender means ‘enchantment,’ but it’s also the unofficial flower you give someone of the same sex to see if they fancy you. The dark purplish red ones mean ‘unconscious beauty,’ you’d give them to someone who doesn’t think they’re as gorgeous as they really are. The really, really purple ones are magically created, like the blue ones, and mean ‘nobility.’” 

“How do they get the multi-colored petals? More magic?”

Victor shook his head. “No, actually, it’s just from cross-breeding and grafting one rose branch to a different tree. Magic helps, though.”

At the edge of the lavender bed was the unicorn topiary that had annoyed Victor the other night. “Unicorns are popular,” he pointed out. “They represent purity and innocence. I have no idea why there’s a unicorn next to the lavender roses. It should be by the white ones. White can also mean innocence.” 

Yuuri looked at the tree that had been trimmed to look like the four-legged creature. “Ah, so they guard, um, yah, because they protect the innocent?”

Amused, Victor grinned. “No one knows why unicorns are attracted to virgins, and guard them at all costs. It can cause a lot of problems for couples that decide a nice, shady, woodland meadow is a great place to get to know each other better.”

“And…they didn’t like you and your friend Chris.”

Victor heard the unasked question. “No, they get very annoyed with people who are _not_ virgins. I haven’t been unicorn bait since I was 16.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t be embarrassed, Yuuri. Unless you’re a unicorn or a devotee of one particular goddess, virginity doesn’t mean anything. Love is love, and sometimes it’s expressed physically, but there’s no rush. Sometimes noble families expect their daughters to be virgins until marriage so the husband can be sure his bloodline is pure. It’s very easy to _fake_ virginity, though, unless an actual unicorn is involved. There’s no expectation that you have sex as soon as you physically can. Wait until you’re ready.” Victor didn’t mention that at court, sleeping around was fairly common. 

“How often do people actually _see_ unicorns?”

“Almost never. That’s part of what made finding you in the forest so interesting, that was a fuck load of unicorns. And they seem to be dumber when they’re in a group. Chris and I can’t figure out how they survive in the wild.”

They continued walking in the gardens until Makkachin came bounding back over to them from wherever he’d been. There were flowers tucked into his collar, so someone had been playing with him. He was extremely popular. “Is it time to go in, Makka?” Victor asked. “It must be almost time for the cobbler to come.”

They’d turned back toward the palace when Victor spotted a member of court that was possibly even more ridiculous than a dog wearing flowers in his collar. “Phichit!”

The dark-haired man trotted over to Victor and Yuuri, a smile as bright as summer sunshine on his face. “Prince Victor! Good morning!”

“I want you to meet someone, this is Yuuri. Yuuri, this is the court artist, Phichit Chulanont. He has an amazing magical gift.”

Phichit grinned. “Yes indeed! What can I draw for you, your Highness?”

Victor shook his head. “Please stop calling me that. Just use my name.”

“I forgot, sorry. Victor. What can I draw for you?”

“I actually thought you might be the perfect person to show Yuuri around the palace and grounds while I’m at audiences this afternoon.” It was absolutely impossible to dislike Phichit. Victor wondered if it was an undocumented magical talent, the gift of popularity.

“Of course! What time?”

“Can we meet you by the audience chamber a little before 1:00?”

Phichit nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll see you then! I’ll bring my portfolio, in case you want to see my drawings, Yuuri.”

“Ah, okay,” he agreed, reeling from the speed of the conversation and the realization that he’d been given a babysitter.

“It’s great to meet you, Yuuri, see you later!” Phichit took off across the gardens, a sketchbook and pencil bag in his hands.

Victor smiled at Yuuri. “I thought you might get seriously bored and lonely sitting in the suite all day. Alexei has actual work to do throughout the day, so he won’t be there. I don’t want to expose you to Chris without being there to protect you.” He winked.

Yuuri thought he might be joking, but wasn’t sure. “Okay.” Things were happening entirely too fast, but he had to acknowledge that sitting in Victor’s room with nothing to do would be seriously lame. “I wonder if I can read in this language?”

“We can find out. All of the books I have are in Russian, but we have a huge library. I know we have a big section of books in other languages, I’m sure there are some in the common tongue.”

It seemed very cool and dark in the palace when they went inside, and it took Yuuri a moment to adjust to the change. Victor had the same issue, so he didn’t feel too stupid. After a few moments, they went back to Victor’s rooms, and Yuuri tried to remember where they went so he could find his way later, but it was a lost cause. There were too many different hallways. He stopped next to a small alcove with a statue in it. “Victor, is your kingdom obsessed with unicorns?”

Victor stopped and looked at Yuuri’s point of interest. It was, indeed, a unicorn carved from a huge piece of malachite with gorgeous veins of copper running through it. “I hadn’t thought about it before, but I’m starting to wonder. I’ve never noticed this statue before.” He shook his head. “Now that I think about it, I seem to remember a unicorn tapestry in the library.”

Yuuri shook his head. “At least they’re pretty. This statue is really beautiful.” 

“It is. The stone is malachite, it’s common in the mountains that border Schweiz, it’s found with copper deposits.”

“I like it.”

When they got back to the suite, Alexei had a low stool in the center of the sitting room. “After the cobbler measures your feet, I’ll fix the hems on your trousers. I’m not a tailor, but I can do simple mending. Do you want to look at the kinds of shoes we wear around here?”

That sounded like a really good idea. “Yes, thank you.”

Victor tugged Yuuri into his room, and opened the wardrobe. “I have a lot of shoes.”

The state of the wardrobe showed that Victor had a lot of everything. 

“These are common everyday shoes,” Victor explained, showing Yuuri a pair of soft suede shoes that laced up over the top. “These are dancing shoes.” He held out a pair of shiny black leather shoes that were slender and had thin soles. “Riding boots, everyday boots, winter boots, we like boots in Rus. As you can see, I usually wear these shoes for normal wear.” He pointed to his feet, and showed the combination canvas and leather laced-up shoes he was wearing. “They’re very casual, but would go with the outfit you’re currently wearing.” Victor examined the shoes Yuuri was currently in, the ones he woke up with. “Yours are fairly similar to dress shoes,” he commented, pulling out a pair that looked a lot like his, but his were narrower and had a shine to them. 

“Oh my god, Victor, how do you know what to put on in the morning?” _How could anyone possibly own this many pairs of shoes?_

“That’s why I have Alexei. He makes sure my clothes match.” 

“Do I need all of these shoes?”

“Eventually, if you’re going to be here for a little while.” Victor gave Yuuri a soft look. “I’d like you to be here for a while.” _Forever, actually._

“I’d like that, too.” Feeling just a bit bold, Yuuri moved close and pressed his lips to Victor’s. _If I never remember, being with Victor wouldn’t be too bad…_

The kiss stayed slow and sweet, Victor letting Yuuri set the pace. Being touched, being kissed…it was what Victor needed as much as air. Those delicate, hesitant touches were everything, _everything,_ he wanted. When Yuuri opened his mouth, Victor fought the urge to take over, and move things directly to bed, and just enjoyed the sensation of Yuuri gently touching his tongue with his own, and only deepened it a bit by pulling him tight against his body.

“Would you just stop?” 

“I’m starting to think you’re doing this on purpose,” Victor remarked to his valet.

“I am, because the cobbler is here.”

Blushing furiously, Yuuri straightened his borrowed clothes and thought about really unarousing things. “Um. Yah.” 

The cobbler was a small, elderly man with thick glasses and an assistant that was probably 14. “Come stand here, young man, and let me look at your feet.”

Yuuri awkwardly removed his shoes and socks, and stood in front of the cobbler. The man rolled up the cuffs of his trousers. “You’ve very shapely feet,” he complimented. “I’m Thaddeus, by the way. This is my grandson, also Thaddeus.” 

He went about taking measurements of the length of Yuuri’s feet, the distance across the ball of his foot, the height of the instep, the width of his heels, how far his arches were from the floor, and the length of each toe. The then drew a series of patterns of his feet, making notations about the slope of his toes. Then he measured his ankles and calves, tested the firmness of his muscles and the tendons on the backs of his heels, and squeezed and pinched to see how thick his skin was. _I’m pretty sure my feet are not this interesting._

“Would you like me to fit him for ice skates, your Highness?”

“Do you know if you’ve ever skated, Yuuri?”

“I have no idea.”

“Go ahead and make skates, Thaddeus. I’ll teach you to skate this winter, Yuuri, it’s a lot of fun.”

“And you can impress him with being an insanely good skater.”

“Shut up, Alexei.”

If it was something Victor enjoyed, he’d learn just to spend time with him.

Eventually Thaddeus the cobbler gathered up his supplies and drawings and packed them in his bag. “I’ll have time to make the lasts today, and should have at least casual and dinner shoes tomorrow evening. Riding boots will have to wait until the end of the week, I’m afraid.”

“That’s fine, Thaddeus.” Alexei thanked the man with genuine kindness, and showed him out. In a few minutes, he returned carrying several pairs of trousers.

“Alright, Yuuri, I pulled out some more of Victor’s clothes, so I’ll measure and hem a few so you have clothes until the tailor can get some things made for you. I asked him to come tomorrow afternoon, is that okay Victor?”

“That’s fine. Is that okay with you, Yuuri?”

“Um, what else would I do?”

“Good point.”

Yuuri tried on 4 pairs of trousers in different shades, and for each pair Alexei either let out the hem, or pinned it up. For the dark blue pair, he also pinned two tucks at the waist. “The tunic that goes with these pants will look amazing on you, but I’ll have to find you one of Victor’s old belts. I think blue is going to be your color.”

“I like blue. At least, right now, I like blue.”

“With your skin, you could wear almost any color. Although, I really don’t think anyone should wear orange.”

Victor and Yuuri both laughed. “I don’t want to wear orange.”

“You know, we have plenty of time, let me try shirts and tunics on you.”

The tunic that went with the blue pants was beautiful, it was a richer shade of blue in heavy silk with gold embellishments. “You’d wear this for a formal dinner or a party,” Victor explained. “Do you think he could pull off the grey and pink one with the sparkles?”

“Please, no,” Yuuri begged. 

Alexei chuckled. “Only you could pull off that tunic. Pity it’s not cold, there are plenty of pretty velvets in your wardrobe. Do you want to go look in the party clothes trunk, Yuuri? You can pick something out for the ball that’s coming up.”

“Alright.” He followed Alexei to the storage room next to his bedroom. There was a large leather and brass trunk pushed against one wall. 

“It has a charm on it to keep out moths and preserve fancy fabrics.” Alexei knelt in front of it. “Some of these are Victor’s mother’s gowns that he’s saving for someone special. Don’t think you’re expected to wear them.”

Victor appeared behind them. “I keep thinking that even if my heir has to be in the bloodline, I could still adopt a child if I want to be a parent. Even if she can’t be queen, she could still be loved. Is that silly?”

“That’s really sweet, actually.” Yuuri crouched down to look through the options. One black and grey outfit caught his eye with its sparkling crystals. “Is this the outfit you wanted to see me in?”

“Yes,” Victor groaned. “ _Please_ try it on.” Yuuri was going to look so fucking hot in that outfit. 

Yuuri smiled. “Okay.”

When he stepped up on the stool for Alexei to adjust the hems, he was 75% too self-conscious to look at Victor, but that other 25% let him peek out from beneath his bangs. The look on the prince’s face was extremely gratifying, so he lifted his head. “Do I look okay?”

The shirt was a very sheer grey silk, and showed that Yuuri was actually _very_ muscular. The trousers were black and stretchy, and a swirl of sheer grey traveled down the left leg. _And gods, those legs._ A vest went over the shirt, solid black leather on the left, and adorned with silver crystals on the right. He watched Alexei add the belt to the ensemble, crystals shining, and a flutter of red-lined black silk floating over his right hip. _Black boots. I’ll ask Thaddeus to make him some sexy black boots, because holy fuck._ “You look incredible.”

“I feel naked.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.” 

“Who’d even be interested in seeing me naked?”

Victor tapped his lips with one finger. “I, for one, would be interested.”

When Yuuri gave him a look that was equal parts terrified and embarrassed, Victor added, “It gets really hot in the ballroom, you want to wear cool clothes.” 

“Good save, Nikiforov,” Alexei muttered. “Alright, Yuuri, you can put regular clothes back on.”

In the quiet privacy of the bedroom, Yuuri contemplated Victor’s words. _He wants to see me naked?_ He couldn’t deny that he’d like to see Victor naked, the half-nakedness of last night was mind-blowing. Did he want to have sex with Victor? _Yes._ That meant that Victor would see him naked. He looked down at his body. Overall, he looked okay, but his belly was just a little squishy, and he had a really curvy butt. _Maybe Victor won’t mind?_ Oh well, that was at least a little while off, there was no way he was ready to have sex with the prince yet.

When Yuuri when back out to the sitting room, the clothes and stool had been cleared away, and three glasses of pale yellow liquid were on the table. “It’s not time for lunch yet, but I thought you might like some lemonade after being excessively stared at.”

“It’s pretty, I take it that it’s lemon juice? Isn’t it sour?” He seated himself on the sofa next to Victor.

“It’s at least half sugar, so it’s sweet and tart. Chris’s boyfriend, Tristan, _loves_ lemonade. It’s not as common in Schweiz, so he drinks gallons of it when he’s here.” He watched while Yuuri sipped the summery drink, and smiled at his obvious delight. “Chris and his ‘secretary’ are making social calls on behalf of his mother today, so you won’t be able to meet him until dinner tonight.”

“’Secretary’?”

“Tristan is technically Chris’s secretary. It would be a little scandalous if it was common knowledge. But when they’re here, it’s less strict because no one knows.”

“Oh. That must be hard for them.”

“It is. Chris already told me he’s going to give up the throne to his younger brother so that he can be with Tristan. They deeply, truly love each other. You can see it when they’re together.”

Yuuri was quiet for a moment, thinking. “How are you going to explain me at court? Are we allowed to be together? _Are_ we together?”

“I’d like us to be together,” Victor replied softly. He took Yuuri’s hand. “I love you so much.”

A happy smile bloomed on Yuuri’s face. “I love you, too.” When Victor leaned close, he stopped him. “You know the second you kiss me, Alexei is going to walk into the room.”

Victor laughed. “I don’t care.” He planted a sweet kiss on Yuuri’s smiling lips. “I defy him to catch us.”

“You’re caught.” Alexei dropped into the shabbier of the two chairs. “That new set of riding leathers you ordered showed up, Victor. They’re really pretty.”

“Wonderful. Did you find any of my old ones for Yuuri?”

Alexei shook his head. “They were all too worn out, I don’t know why we still had them. I’ll send a message to Davidov that you’re making more work for him after the tailor gets me a full set of Yuuri’s measurements. What color of leathers do you want? Black would look really nice but you’d cook.”

Yuuri laughed. “I have no idea. I guess just leather colored.”

“What about a cinnamon brown leaning toward gold to match your eyes?”

“Ah, um, okay.” Apparently matching your clothes to your eyes was a really serious thing in Rus. Or, well, at least with Victor. 

“Mila asked if she and Yuri can join you for lunch? I already said yes, just so you know.”

“Wow, thanks for asking.” Victor rolled his eyes when Alexei toasted him with his lemonade. He turned to Yuuri. “Mila and Yuri are my cousins. Yuri is my heir, but the other night he dropped the bombshell that he’s gay so my dad is going to be _pissed.”_

“I just won 20 rubles.” 

“Who’d you bet against?”

“Mila’s maid. Two years ago.”

“Well, for his sake, I hope his mother produces another son. My father is horrible.”

“Maybe your uncle Piotr will settle down and produce some heirs one of these days.”

“That would be good. I don’t think Aunt Anastasia likes her husband enough to willingly produce more children.”

Yuuri sipped his lemonade. “Can’t daughters inherit?” 

Victor shook his head. “No. But you know, when I’m on the throne, I might change that.”

A little past 11:30, Alexei answered the door to admit the cousins. Since there were four of them, Alexei had set up a lunch table in the office for them to use. Yuuri was interested to see that Mila was a tall and shapely, and that her hair was a completely unnatural color. Yuri was tiny and slender, with pale blond hair and the fiercest scowl he’d ever seen. He was clearly very young, and very angry. The tension around his eyes made Yuuri think that he’d felt rejected too often in his life to trust people, but desperately wanted affection. 

Yuri was the first person to notice Yuuri. _This is going to get confusing quickly._

“Who the hell is this?” 

_Wow, that was rude._ “My name is Yuuri.” He inclined his head to the young man. 

“We don’t need two Yuris in the palace.”

“Don’t be so rude, Yuri,” Victor admonished.

Yuuri felt a need to defend himself. “Actually, my name is said differently. The “oo” sound is longer.”

“Whatever.”

“You are such a pill,” Mila complained. “My name is Mila, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She inclined her head as well. “I’m Victor’s cousin on his mother’s side.”

“Who cares,” Yuri complained.

“You know, Yuri, I think to avoid confusion, we’re going to have to resort to a nickname for you.” Victor was clearly plotting mayhem. “I know we usually call you Yura, but maybe today, to be less confusing, we’ll call you Yurio.”

“WHAT?!”

“Maybe Yurotchka?” Mila suggested. 

Yuri balled up his fists and stared down Mila. “Shut the fuck up.”

“That’s what his fan club at court calls him,” Mila said in an aside to Yuuri. “There are all of these pre-teen girls that follow him around when he’s here. It’s adorable.”

“SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.”

Victor smothered a laugh. “Oh look, lunch is here, let’s sit down like civilized adults and eat.”

Yuuri had assumed lunch would be tense with Yuri so angry, but Victor and Mila just ignored him, or said normal conversational things to him as if he wasn’t fuming. She was asking Victor what he’d been doing the last few days since she’d barely seen him, and he met Yuuri’s eyes.

“Well, that’s a very interesting story.” And he launched into the real-life version of the popular opera, ‘Tales of a Sleeping Prince.’ 

Yuri was extremely skeptical. “So, you’re telling me, that you kissed this guy in the woods and now you’re in love with him?”

Victor was looking at Yuuri when he answered. “Yes.”

Yuuri smiled. “Yes.”

Mila propped her chin on her hand, and looked dreamy. “That is the most adorable story I’ve ever heard. It’s exactly like the opera. A modern-day fairytale.” 

“That’s really stupid.” Yuri didn’t look like he thought it was stupid. “Don’t be gross like you are with Chris.”

To Yuuri’s surprise, Victor turned scarlet. “Ah, no, I won’t be.”

Yuri and Mila left in time for Victor to change for audiences. “What _are_ audiences?” Yuuri asked, curious.

“Anyone in the kingdom can bring a matter before the crown. When new courtiers come from their country estates, they get introduced at audiences, and people who have disputes that they don’t think the courts are handling fairly can drop their arguing at my feet. My father has a secretary that filters out the truly serious or important audiences to be heard privately, and three days a week I have to sit on the throne and be bored out of my mind.”

“What kinds of things do they bring up?”

“Usually disputes over property boundaries, honestly. My answer is always the same. Go to the Office of Lands and have them pull up the last-known map. That’s what stands. Local cartographers are supposed to send in new property maps every 10 years but it doesn’t happen, so sometimes people realize that their ‘dispute’ doesn’t help either one of them because the 100-year-old map doesn’t prove either of them right. Most of the time the local records office has already ruled and they didn’t like the answer.”

“That does sound boring.” 

When Victor emerged from his room, he was in a deep green silk shirt with dramatic ruffles at the cuffs, dark grey trousers, a laced-up vest of the same grey, and tall black boots. Yuuri stared.

“What?”

“You look, um, wow.”

Victor colored prettily, and swooped in to kiss Yuuri where he was seated in the chair. “Thank you, _solnyshko._ You’re sweet. Ready to go?”

Yuuri grew steadily more nervous as they moved through the halls of the palace. More people were moving around now, dressed in a dizzying array of colors and fabrics, each more elaborate than the next. Victor took his hand so they wouldn’t get separated, and Yuuri was extremely grateful. They stopped in front of an imposing set of doors where a long line of people were waiting.

“This looks like a full afternoon of audiences,” Victor complained with a sigh. “After we meet Phichit, I’ll go around the back hall and enter before they do.” He scanned the queue. “No crying babies today. Yet.”

“Victor! Yuuri!”

They both looked up as the artist walked up to them, all smiles. “I have a full afternoon of mischief planned.”

Victor laughed at the uneasy look on Yuuri’s face. “I’d expect nothing less. I’ll see you no later than 4:00, _lyubov moya._ ” Ignoring the impropriety of it, he gave Yuuri a loving kiss. “Have fun.”

With no little trepidation, Yuuri turned to Phichit. “Hi.”

“Are you ready?” Phichit looked like he could sell sand in the desert.

“As I’ll ever be.”

Visual aids!

Yuuri's blue tunic is based on this costume Shoma Uno wore at the Olympics:

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/42293987384/in/dateposted-public/)

The rejected grey and pink outfit is one of Nathan Chen's: 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/42293990974/in/dateposted-public/)

Not Yuuri's style, but wouldn't it look beautiful on Victor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a one-shot about Chris and Tristan getting together if you're interested in reading it. It's fluffy and explicit:  
> [Sweater Weather](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14902589/chapters/34516241)
> 
> Alexei is becoming my favorite character. So. Much. Sass.


	6. In which we meet Phichit the selfie king

“So, Yuuri, tell me about yourself!” Phichit asked, as he walked away from the door, looking back to be sure the man in question was following.

“I don’t know anything about myself. I have amnesia.” Yuuri shook his head. “It’s really frustrating.”

“Whoa!” A look of stunned shock was painted on Phichit’s face, and he had big eyes, so he looked comically shocked. “How did you meet the prince?”

“He says that I was asleep on a frozen pond in the forest surrounded by unicorns, and that he kissed me awake.”

“Oh my goddess, I have _got_ to have him tell me the story so I can draw the scene.”

“According to Victor, the pond was glowing and I was on an altar made of ice. And the unicorns were aggressively stupid and couldn’t stop him and his friend from rescuing me.”

“Even better! Which friend? Was it Prince Christophe?”

“Yes. I haven’t met him yet.”

“I need to get his take, too, so I can draw a really good picture. I’ll paint it.”

While they were talking, Phichit had led them into a quiet corridor. Yuuri looked around in interest, this hallway wasn’t as opulent, and he felt more comfortable. “Where are we?”

“This is the back way to the part of the gardens that are in shade this time of day. The pretty groves of willow trees and flowering dogwood are always taken by courtiers, but the apple orchard is actually shadier and much quieter.”

“We should have brought Makkachin.” Yuuri was quickly becoming attached to the giant fluffball. 

“That would have been a great idea, except we won’t be in the garden the whole time. I want to show you around the fun parts of the palace. If we had more time, I’d take you into town, there are lots of fun ways to kill time down there.” 

They arrived at the door that led into the vegetable and herb gardens, and followed the path to where a huge, ancient, apple orchard was shading the ground. There was a pile of pillows on a blanket under the trees. 

“I promise I’m not trying to seduce you or anything, I just don’t see a reason to sit on the ground when there are perfectly good garden pillows to use,” Phichit joked. “These are some that someone decided were too shabby to be out in the main gardens, so the support staff uses them. There’s nothing wrong with them, but courtiers are fussy.”

“This is beautiful,” Yuuri murmured, feeling a vague déjà vu, like he’d done something like this before. “I think there are trees like this wherever I’m from.”

“This is the best place to be during summer afternoons. It’s a good place to bring clients that aren’t noble to draw. Ordinary people are perfectly happy to sit under shady apple trees and drink lemonade and sweet tea while I draw their ideas.”

Yuuri followed Phichit’s example, and plumped up a couple of cushions to lounge on. “How do you draw their ideas? Do you just have them describe their mental picture?”

“It’s even better than that,” Phichit answered with a wink. “My talent is that I can capture images directly from people’s minds, and reproduce them. I almost never forget what I’ve seen, so I usually only have to sit with someone once or twice to get a sketch done. I have a studio too, so if someone wants a full-blown painting, I have them come to the studio several times while I’m working so we can make sure we’re seeing the same thing.”

“Oh my god,” Yuuri breathed. “That’s…unbelievable.” He just gaped at Phichit for a few moments. “You…you can draw love.”

Phichit grinned. “I _love_ that description, I’m going to use it. But yes, I can draw very emotional scenes. I did a painting not long ago of a mother holding her first baby from the father’s eyes. It was tear-inducing to literally everyone that saw it. The hardest painting I ever did was of a dead child through the eyes of her mother. _I_ cried while I was painting it, I could feel the poor woman’s agony.”

Yuuri shook his head. “I can’t even grasp what an amazing gift that is.” 

“It’s certainly made me indispensable at court, a lot of people want to be painted in their own idealized vision of themselves.” Phichit pulled a picnic basket from behind a big pillow. “I have sweet tea and pastries, if you want some.”

“Why does everyone here eat delicious things all day? I’m going to get so fat.” Yuuri inspected the pastries. “What are they?”

“These are a specialty of one of the assistant chefs. She makes sugar and peaches into a filling, then stuffs the pastries and fries them. Then coats them in sugar. They’re so good it should be illegal. Definitely a once-in-a-while food, I have to keep my weight under control because I hate getting new clothes.” Phichit carefully bit into one of the fried pies, a look of reverence usually reserved for religious experiences on his face. 

Afraid he was going to love it, Yuuri took a bite, and was indeed devastated to discover that it was so delicious that it really _should_ be illegal. “This? This is amazing.” 

Phichit set his on a napkin and poured tea from a thermos into cups. “This is a specialty of the same cook’s home, it’s tea that’s brewed with a lethal amount of sugar and served cold. She decided to step up her game and put diced peaches and peach syrup in it today. Peaches are in season, in case you hadn’t guessed.”

Cautiously, Yuuri sipped the tea, and found that sickly sweet tea could actually be palatable, if served cold. “It’s good.” He sipped it again. “It might be addictive.”

“My thoughts exactly. Where I’m from we make a really strong, sweet tea that you cut with heavy cream or coconut milk, and drink cold. I’ve missed it since I moved here. No one trades with my country in this part of the world.”

“Milk in tea is a new thing for me.” Yuuri looked at Phichit curiously. They had similarities in appearance that made him wonder if his homeland was near Yuuri’s. “Where are you from?”

“Siam. It’s hell and gone from here, I came to court when I was 15 when I decided I was going to paint the entire world. I made a respectable living and got to see a lot of the world, but I’ve been here the last six years because I’m making a _ton_ of money and I’ve made some really good friends. One of the traders I traveled with has a son who’s staying here as one of his trading contacts, and he’s fun to hang out with. I’m glad Victor introduced us, though, Guang-Hong has been making googly eyes at this new boy at court and I sense that I could become the third wheel in the near future.”

Yuuri nodded as if any of that incredibly quickly spoken speech made sense. “I’m wondering if Siam is near my homeland? We look a little bit a like.”

“Maybe! There are hundreds of countries that seem to look like us, though, so it might be hard to figure out. Maybe we can look at a map and it will jog your memory.”

Deflated, Yuuri shook his head. “I doubt it. I have no idea why I ended up here, where here is, or where I’m from. I love Victor, and right now I don’t want to leave him, but I don’t know what my life was like before. What if I’m already married? Or promised to someone? What if I _am_ actually a prince, and I have some princess I have to marry?” He took several deep breaths to calm down. “And…this is all magic. What if the magic is what is making him love me, and it wears off?”

“Oh wow, I didn’t know it was true love! No wonder he could kiss you awake! From what I’ve read, that kind of love doesn’t just happen, it’s sort of like it’s fate or the gods or something.”

“But he never would have met me otherwise,” Yuuri argued. “Why would he love me without magic?”

“Why do you love him?” Phichit asked very reasonably.

“I’m assuming it’s the magic, but also, he’s so kind, and beautiful, and just everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner.”

“Maybe that’s what you are for him?” Phichit shook his head. 

“It’s hard to believe.”

“If it’s one thing I know about Prince Victor,” Phichit explained, “it’s that he throws his whole heart into anything or anyone that deserves his attention. He won’t give you up easily if he’s willing to kiss you right in front of the audience chamber with a million people watching.”

That made Yuuri feel decidedly better. “That helps. Thank you.”

“Come one, let’s go find more trouble. Have you been anywhere in the palace besides Victor’s rooms?”

“No,” Yuuri replied with a head shake. “Except the rose garden this morning.”

“One of my absolutely most lucrative ideas was to paint the rose garden from the tower and have prints made. People buy them constantly. I say a little prayer of thanks to the late Queen for her idea with the gardens every day.” Dramatically, Phichit pressed his hands together and looked to the sky. “Anyway, let’s go up in the tower, you can see for miles and miles. It will give you an idea of where you are.”

Yuuri looked up at the castle, and saw several towers poking through the tree cover. “There are a lot of towers.”

“The bell tower is the tallest, but you can be seriously deafened by being up there, plus it’s open to the elements, and I’m pretty sure the pigeons have proved that pigeon poop is its own element. No, the Queen’s Tower is the next tallest, and you don’t risk hearing loss or disease.” 

“Alright.” 

They cleaned up their picnic supplies, left the pillows in a storage room and took the basket to the kitchen. “We’ll take all the servant’s passages until we get to the Queen’s wing. There are beautiful paintings, tapestries, and statues in the halls, and it’s super pretty.”

They went up two or three floors, down three or four hallways, up another flight of stairs, then pushed through a door into a wide, sunny corridor. “Queen Vasilysa was known for her good taste and being the sweetest person ever. Victor is a lot like her. I asked Victor if he’d like me to paint her form his memories and he said it would be too painful to see every day.”

The corridor was stone, and paneled about halfway up the walls, but the wood had been painted a very soft gold, and the stone had been plastered and painted a soft cream. The polished wood floor was softened with a long carpet of emerald green patterned with a riot of wildflowers and vines. Yuuri pointed to a picture. “Is that a tapestry by the Russian definition?” He had a feeling his people had tapestries that were nothing like this.

Phichit nodded. “The Queen wove and embroidered that herself, it’s of Rus’s moon goddess who watches over people with kindness. I can’t remember the Russian name for her, but I know it translates to Lady of Light in the common tongue.”

“It’s amazing. I can’t imagine how long it took to do that.”

“The upstairs maids that used to work for her said she did it when she was pregnant with Victor, because she was so sick she could barely leave her rooms. If it hadn’t been for healers with magical talents and some of the best herbalists in the world, she would have died.”

Yuuri frowned, saddened. “How did she die?”

“She caught a terrible illness with a high fever, and never recovered. The kingdom mourned her for an entire month. It happened right before I came here, I’ve painted a lot of pictures of her from the memories of her friends and relatives. I gifted a painting from the eyes of her handmaid to the King, and it’s still above the fireplace in his office.” 

“Did she look like Victor?”

“Yes, there’s a painting of her with toddler Victor up ahead. I have to warn you, it’s deadly cute.”

They traveled along the hall, and stopped to look at the beautiful artwork along the way. Yuuri recognized the unicorn right instantly. “Rus is really obsessed with unicorns,” he complained. “Here’s another one.”

It was a small marble statue, adorned with flowering vines and looking like it was real enough to feel the softness of its fur. “The frickin unbelievable artist who did all of the statues for the new temple of the Lady in town sculpted this for the Queen back when she was just Missy Vasya and had come to court with her mother and father. He was so taken with her that he was inspired to sculpt the little unicorn. She commissioned him for several of the statues in the gardens and around the palace.”

They reached the painting of the late queen with 3-year-old Victor too soon for Yuuri to brace himself for the cute.

Toddler Victor was possibly the cutest child to ever walk the earth.

No really, he was that cute. It was disgusting how cute he was. If Yuuri had thought he was in love before, now he was dumbfounded with love.

“He was _adorable,”_ Yuuri breathed out. “Just, so cute. I don’t know if there’s a word for how cute he is.”

“I know, right?” Phichit laughed. “See how pretty the Queen was?”

Yuuri was overwhelmed by her beauty, she looked like a goddess herself, or an angel with silver hair. Her eyes were that liquid blue that Victor’s were, and the artist had captured the light in them very well. She was wearing a crown of blue roses on her head, and flowers were tucked into her long, unbound hair. Victor was also wearing a crown of roses, but they were just a bit askew, which was really just terribly charming. There was a fluffy dog in the picture, but Yuuri was sure it wasn’t Makkachin, even not knowing how old Victor actually was, he was sure he was too old for that to be Makka in the painting. 

“Who is the dog?”

“That’s Sisi, she was the Queen’s dog from before she married the King. Makkachin is one of her grandsons. The Queen always had dogs around.”

“It’s such a beautiful painting.” Yuuri couldn’t look away from Queen Vasilysa’s eyes. “I wish I could have met her.”

“Me, too. She was best friends with Queen Adela of Schweiz. They’d never met, but there was a fever going around at court right after she had Prince Christophe’s little brother, and sent her a mage message to see if they could visit to keep the baby safe. They were like sisters the minute they saw each other.”

“Victor said there was a drawing in my room that Chris’s mother did of the two of them, but I didn’t look at it today.”

“Really? I’d love to see it, I didn’t know she was an artist!”

“I’m sure Victor wouldn’t mind.” 

At the end of the hall, they came to an arched doorway that displayed only stairs. Clearly, this was the tower. They started up the staircase, and Yuuri looked up. It was a long way. But it wasn’t a spiral, it was a square tower, so there were landings with windows to stop on for breathers.

“How often do you come up here?” Yuuri panted after about 10 landings.

“At least once a week, if only for the exercise,” Phichit laughed. “It’s not much farther to the top. You get used to stairs when you live in a stone palace. My people also build temples with ridiculous stairs so that you can either climb to the heavens for the gods to hear you or just die at their feet when you collapse in exhaustion.”

Yuuri laughed, and had a sudden flash of memory. “I think my people like to put temples on hills with lots of stairs. I must not be very religious in my old life.”

“Come on, let’s keep going.”

The top of the tower was a pretty sitting room, with huge windows looking out all four walls. There was no dropped ceiling below the peaked roof, and a pretty chandelier dangled down from the center. Servants had been up at some point, as the windows were open, but clearly no pigeons had dared to enter. Yuuri moved to the nearest window, kneeling on the bench under it to look out. 

The view was breathtaking.

Yuuri was facing north, and could see the entirety of the gardens, some large buildings, then a tall surrounding wall that stretched out of sight in both directions. Beyond that was a beautiful, picture-perfect meadow dotted with flowers, and a verdant wood. Even further away, in the far distance, were snow-capped mountains. “That must be the forest where Victor found me.”

Phichit joined him at the window. “He probably found you in the Old Forest. Weird stuff happens there. The New Forest is more tame and people go hunting there all the time.”

Next, Yuuri looked to the east. Much of his view was other parts of the castle, including the bell tower. Beyond that he could see what looked like a sizeable town, and a glint of water.

“East is the crappiest view, but you can see the river in the distance. It gets cold enough here in the winter that the river freezes and there’s a huge festival with ice skating races. Victor would probably win if he was ever here.”

“Where does he go?” Yuuri asked, looking at Phichit as he moved to the south-facing window.

“He goes to Schweiz for Midwinter every year. Midwinter isn’t a big holiday here, but the Queen loved it. The king seemed to love her, but he wasn’t really a genial guy, and was a serious downer on festivities. She started taking Victor to Schweiz for a month or two every winter since it’s a huge deal there, and Victor still goes, even though his mother is gone.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“Yep, when I was traveling here. It’s beautiful. I really loved it, but the people here are so much more vain that I can’t justify giving up the bank I’m making to go back to Schweiz. Or home, I got a message from my mother complaining about her lack of grandchildren last week.”

Yuuri laughed. “How did she get the message here?” He remembered Phichit saying no one traded with his homeland. 

“It’s a spell that works for us because we both have the same kind of visual talent. I don’t know if other people use the spell, but it’s been used in my family for generations to make wayward children feel guilty. Oh, and she already has 3 grandchildren.” Phichit looked out the south window. “Here you can see pretty much all of the city, and the avenue leading from the gates up to the palace.”

When Phichit had talked about going into town, Yuuri had pictured a town. This…was a huge city. “How do you not get lost in there?”

“There are districts. So like, down there--” Phichit leaned out the window to point at an area where the river came back into view, “—you’d know you were in the wharf district, or the docks. So if you knew you needed to find a business in that area, you could find the street address. But, like, never go there.” He shook his head. “Never.”

“Okay…”

“But there are places that are completely safe! Over to the right, over there, that’s where most of the bakeries are, that’s literally Baker Street that you can see winding through the buildings.”

It still seemed overwhelmingly large to Yuuri. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You won’t have a lot of chances to get lost, if you’re with me, I know where I’m going, or you’ll be with Victor, and he has a carriage.”

They moved to the westward window, where most of the wind was coming in. “This is my favorite view,” Phichit explained. “If you look hard enough, you can almost see the sea that borders Rus on the west. It’s about a three day ride to the coast, but it’s totally worth it, and you travel through some really sweet little towns. Rus isn’t a small kingdom, but the people are friendly, and there are taverns in every town that will take your rubles, no matter what you’re doing.”

Yuuri lost himself gazing out at the window, imagining that he could see the sea, hear the birds calling, smell the salt wind, feel the mist on his face. “I’ve been to the sea,” he murmured. “Is it a sandy beach or a rocky one?”

“Both. Down to the south, it’s sandy and sunny and really popular for vacations. To the north, the water seems colder and the beaches get rockier, and in some places it’s just pine forest dropping straight into the water. I loved the northern coast, the fog made for some really nice artwork, and the trees are so big you can’t believe it even when you’re looking at them.”

“Does Victor ever go to the sea?”

“All the time, with Prince Christophe. Usually after Midsummer for a couple weeks before Christophe goes back home. I know there are manor houses out there that the royal family uses, but Victor’s valet, Alexei, says that they usually avoid them, and stay in inns or camp like normal people.”

“You’ve met Alexei?”

“Yah, of course. He’s hilarious. Everyone knows him. _All_ of the girls know him.”

“That doesn’t really shock me,” Yuuri laughed. “Victor was teasing him about having a girl in his room.”

“Don’t let too many people hear you say things like that, it’s pretty inappropriate for the Prince’s servant to have people over to the royal wing. But Victor treats Alexei like a brother, and pretty much everyone loves Victor, so no one gets them in trouble.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“No problem.” 

They stayed in the tower for a while, and eventually Yuuri was drawn back to the window facing north. As he watched, two white shapes glided out of the trees, and began grazing in the meadow. 

“Oh god, Phichit, look, are those unicorns?”

The artist leaned out the window a dangerous distance to try and see. “Yep, just saw the light shine on one of the horns. Holy crap, I wish I had a better view, I’ve always wanted to draw a unicorn!”

“I can’t escape them,” Yuuri complained. “There’s a unicorn every time I turn around. I’m finally in a room with no unicorns, and there are actual unicorns in view from the window. I have to tell Victor.”

“You can’t tell him right this second, he’s holding audiences. I’d offer to see if we could go to the meadow, but we’d never get there in time, they’re all the way over by the New Forest, and that’s too far to walk.”

“Victor said that there were at least 15 unicorns guarding me in the forest. They tried to attack him and Chris. Do you think they’re after me?”

“They’re pretty stupid, I really doubt it. I don’t think they can do something abstract like plot revenge on a stolen prince.” Phichit looked at Yuuri, and decided that he needed a distraction. “Do you want to see my studio?”

That snapped Yuuri out of his obsessive thoughts that bordered on panic. “Okay.”

They trotted back down the stairs, and Yuuri was surprised by how going down the stairs used muscles that were also out of shape on his body, and through a maze of hallways until they ended up at a door on a hall that was kind of dim. Phichit produced a key from his pocket, and let them in.

The hall was dim, but the room was flooded with light. It was obviously at the end of a wing, as there were huge windows in three of the walls. Canvases were stacked against the walls, there were a couple of different easels, and cabinets were overflowing with art supplies. It was a sort of organized chaos. On the easel getting the most light was a partially finished painting of a beautiful woman who looked cold and annoyed.

“This is amazing.” Yuuri walked around, looking at the finished paintings that were drying against the walls. “Is this Makkachin?”

“One of his many relatives. There’s a woman that breeds apricot poodles here in the city, and they’re very popular dogs.” Phichit pointed to the painting next to the dog. “This is that new temple they just built in town, I had to paint it, it’s ridiculously huge and ornate.”

“Is this…you?”

Phichit grinned. “Yep! Whenever I don’t have anything to work on, or I want to try a new technique, I paint myself. Here, look at my sketch book.” 

Yuuri took the large, well-worn book from Phichit. “These are all of you.” _Does he ever stop smiling?_

“I have other sketchbooks, this one is specifically for self-portraits, or selfies as I call them.”

“At least you’re photogenic?”

Phichit cracked up laughing. “Thanks, Yuuri. Can I draw you? There’s really good light right now, and I bet Prince Victor would love it.”

“Ah, um, okay, I guess? If you think he’d like it.”

“I know he would! Here, have a seat.” He cleared a bunch of stuff off of a couch with one arm. “This is specifically for leaning on, so you look casually elegant. Here, get comfy.”

Yuuri awkwardly arranged himself on the sofa, trying to guess what would be the best position for Phichit to draw him. He was uncomfortable, but not sure what to do about it.

“Not like that,” Phichit corrected. “You look all stiff like you’re posing. Move around until you’re comfortable, then I’ll move your clothes and hair and tell you what direction to look.”

Eventually Yuuri ended up with both arms on the arm of the sofa, with his cheek resting on his crossed wrists, legs drawn up on the cushions. “Does this work?” He could potentially sleep in this position.

“Totally cute, Victor will think you’re daydreaming about him.”

Yuuri kind of was daydreaming about Victor, but he didn’t say anything. He watched as Phichit approached.

“I’m going to just adjust the folds of your clothes, then style your hair a little. Do you want to leave your glasses on or take them off?”

“I think I’ll take them off.” That way if he fell asleep they wouldn’t get bent.

“Here, I’ll put them on the table.”

When Phichit was satisfied with Yuuri’s appearance, he sat on his stool at the easel. “I’m just going to do a quick sketch, if Victor likes it, I can make it more detailed or even do a watercolor for him.”

Yuuri lost track of time as he watched dust motes in the sunbeams and listened to Phichit’s pencil scratch against the paper. He didn’t know why anyone would want a picture of him, but Victor did seem to think he was attractive, so he probably wouldn’t be unhappy to get the sketch. It was interesting that even though he remembered almost nothing of his life before the previous day, he still recognized himself in the mirror. That was good, right? At least he still had a sense of identity. _I have a personality, and know my own name, at least. Maybe that’s what Victor sees? That personality with no baggage._ It still seemed weird that when some god or magician was planning to write a fairytale, they cast him in the leading role. Yuuri felt ordinary to his core.

Phichit interrupted his inner dialogue. “Here, I’m done with the rough sketch! Have a look!”

Yuuri stood from the couch and shook out his stiff limbs before joining the artist by the easel. He grabbed his glasses from the table and put them on. “That can’t be me.”

“Adorable, right? That’s with no gift used at all, just my own artistic skills and a good model.” 

Hesitantly, Yuuri touched the page, not quite sure it was real. “This is how you see me?”

“With my own eyeballs. I’d like to draw you how Victor sees you, I bet that’s cavity-inducing.” 

Yuuri watched in fear as Phichit’s already bright smile brightened. “Should I ask?”

“Let me draw Victor as you see him!”

“No. Absolutely not.” 

“Aw, Yuuri, do you have something in there you don’t want me to see?” Phichit laughed, tapping Yuuri on the forehead.

“I--” Yuuri stopped because there was nothing he could say that would not be embarrassing. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t just dig through your thoughts like dirty laundry, I ask you to make a picture in your mind, and I can see that picture, and get some of the emotion behind it.” The artist continued to laugh at the look of discomfort on Yuuri’s face. “I’ve drawn plenty of _that_ kind of art, too. Pays well.”

Yuuri hid his flaming red face in his hands. “Please, stop. I’ve only known Victor a day, I can’t--”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, I’m just teasing you,” Phichit interrupted, squeezing Yuuri’s arm. “It was just an idea.” 

“I know, I’m sorry.” Yuuri’s face was still in his hands. _God, everything about Victor is so confusing._ “I don’t know if I’m ready to see evidence of how I see Victor.”

“That’s fair. Hey, do you want to meet the rest of the artistic staff?”

Happy with the change of topic, Yuuri looked up and nodded. “How many are there?”

“Three more. Here, follow me.” Phichit stood and headed toward the back wall. “They’re always hard at work, they don’t get out much.”

Curious, Yuuri followed Phichit through the door into a small room. “Is this…your bedroom?” It was as messy as you assumed a young, single man’s room would be.

“Yep, sorry, we weren’t anticipating company today, but you were panicking and these ladies are just what you need.”

“What?”

Under the window there was a huge complex of glass containers and small cages connected by tubes, filled with different bedding materials and what could only be described as a ludicrous number of brightly-colored toys. Phichit lifted the lid of one of the upper compartments, and lifted something out.

“Here, meet Sweet Pea, Cow Slip, and Fox Glove.”

“They’re…cute, but what are they?”

“Hamsters! A popular pet here in the city where space is at a premium. One of the people I traveled with caught a bunch of them when he was younger, and started breeding them as pets, but had no idea how popular they’d be once he got into urban areas. These girls have been with me for a couple years now. I keep naming them after flowers.”

“They just keep getting cuter as I look at them. Their little eyes are so shiny, and they’re so trusting.” Yuuri gently stroked the back of the one in his hand. “Which one is this?”

“Cow Slip. She’s the fattest.” Phichit put one hamster on his shoulder to free up a hand. “I have a charm on the door so they can’t get out if they escape the hamster palace, and one on the front door so that none of the palace cats can get in. To a cat, these are just really juicy-looking mice with short tails.” He used his free hand to pull a jar out from under the hamster habitat. “Do you want to give her a treat?”

All of the hamsters perked up when Phichit opened the glass container. “What are they?” Yuuri asked.

“Basically seed cookies.” He handed one to Yuuri. “Here, offer it to her. If you think they’re cute now, wait until you see them eat.”

Yuuri held out the tiny nugget of food to the little furball in on his palm. “Here, Cow Slip, do you want a treat?” He watched with delight as she held it in her front paws and nibbled quickly at the little snack. “That is pretty cute.”

“See how she has her eyes scrunched shut like it’s soooo tasty? Adorable!” 

Eventually they settled sideways on Phichit’s bed, just letting the hamsters run around on them. Phichit talked about his life in Siam, and how almost everyone in his family was an artist. It was clear that he missed his home and his family, but was absolutely in love with life. “I don’t know if I want to stay in Rus forever, but I do know that I’d like to travel some more in the upcoming year, I’m getting restless. Maybe you can convince Victor to take me with him to the seaside!”

Yuuri laughed. “I’m pretty sure he’d say you could without my influence.”

“But I’m not _friends_ with any of his other friends.”

“If you promise to never mention my reaction to your offer to draw him through my eyes, I’ll ask him to invite you.”

“Deal.” They shook on it. Phichit looked at the clock. “It’s almost 4, want me to walk you back to Victor’s rooms?”

“I’d never find my way on my own,” Yuuri pointed out.

“Oh, right. Here, let me put the girls away and we’ll be off.”

There seemed to be fewer people in the halls when they went back to Victor’s suite. “It’s the before-dinner lull,” Phichit explained. “Dinner is at 6, so by 4 the halls are pretty empty. Everyone goes back to their rooms to dress up for dinner.”

“Will you be at dinner?”

“I don’t eat with court, no, but I’m usually around in the evenings doing sketches. I have a client coming after dinner tonight to see my progress on his painting. It’s of his ex-girlfriend. He cries every time.”

“Did she die?”

“No, she just dumped him, but he can’t get over it.”

The bells rang 4 o’clock as they were walking up to the door. “Thank you for babysitting me today, Phichit.” Yuuri smiled. “I had fun.”

“Yeah! My schedule is really fluid, so if you’re bored or need to find something to do, I’m probably available. Or if you want to commission me to draw something, of course.”

“My life is up in the air right now, but I’ll be sure to find you.”

As they were talking, Alexei opened the door. “You could have just come in. Hi, Phichit.”

“I didn’t know what the etiquette was,” Yuuri apologized.

“I’m teasing you. What kind of trouble did you get into?” He motioned for Yuuri and Phichit to follow him in. “Probably not nearly as much trouble as I would have.”

“Almost none, sadly,” Phichit answered. “I showed Yuuri some of the best places in the palace, drew a sketch of him, and made him meet my hamsters.”

Alexei looked interested. “You drew Yuuri? Victor’s going to love that.” He gestured for them to sit. “I asked for tea for four, since I assumed we’d all arrive back at the suite at the same time. Victor should be here any minute.”

“There were a hundred people waiting for audiences,” Phichit commented. “I don’t know how he does it. I’ve tried drawing him on the throne but I get too bored. Victor does a fairly good job of not looking like he wants to die.” 

“He had to practice that,” Alexei laughed. “His mom made him look in the mirror until he could be bored with a pleasant look on his face.”

Yuuri laughed. “That’s cute. How long have you known Victor?”

“I started working for him when I was 18, so he was 12. Queen Vasilysa picked me because she hoped we could become friends with our close ages. It was her idea that Victor teach me to read and write when he started to get bored. In the winter, there is a lot of opportunity to get bored.”

“That’s awesome!” Phichit leaned forward. “Just in Russian?”

“No, I can read and write in the common tongue, and Chris taught me some key, rude phrases in the languages they speak in Schweiz.” Alexei shook his head. “Chris taught me math, too, since that is not Victor’s strong suit.”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Yuuri asked, “How old is Victor?”

“It’s hard to tell, isn’t it? He’s 27. His birthday is Midwinter’s Day.”

“I didn’t know that!” Phichit exclaimed. 

Alexei nodded. “Chris always makes sure his birthday is celebrated on top of the festivities for Midwinter. Queen Adela treats Victor like a third son.”

At that moment, Victor strolled into the sitting room, looking tired but smiling nonetheless. “Oh, we’re having a tea party? Wonderful!” He promptly settled on the sofa with Yuuri and gave him a kiss. “I can’t tell you how boring that was, there aren’t words. Did you have fun with Phichit?”

“Of course,” Phichit answered before Yuuri could, sparking laughter in the other man. 

“Actually, yah, I did. Phichit drew a picture of me if you want it.”

Victor looked like someone had pulled the moon from the sky and offered it to him. _“Really? Of course_ I want it!”

“I’ll clean it up for you, and bring it by tomorrow. It’s just a rough sketch, but if you like it, I can paint it." 

Little girls given ponies for their birthdays could not be as excited as Victor was at that moment. “Yes, please!” 

Alexei laughed. “Victor, you are a massive dork. Here, drink some tea and try to calm down.” 

“We went to the Queen’s Wing.” Yuuri looked a little shy. “The painting of you with your mother is possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” 

“I was absolutely precious, wasn’t I?” Victor grinned. “It hid the fact that I absolutely did not listen to anything anyone said to me and had to be rescued from places all the time.” 

“I noticed there was a unicorn,” Yuuri started, then remembered. “Oh! We went up in the tower, and while we were watching, two unicorns came out of the woods!” 

Victor looked from Yuuri to Phichit and back to Yuuri. “There are never unicorns near the palace. That’s unheard of.” 

“They’re after you, Yuuri,” Alexei teased. 

“I’m kind of afraid they are,” he replied. 

“That doesn’t really make sense, though.” Victor tapped his finger against his lips. “I mean, they’re not smart. Like, really not smart. I can’t imagine they’d follow you on purpose.” 

Yuuri sipped his tea. It was tea, and it was comforting. “They must have been guarding me for a reason. Maybe you weren’t supposed to find me, Victor.” He felt vaguely panicked thinking that. 

Sensing that Yuuri was panicking, Victor tugged him close and kissed his forehead. “No, there’s no way you were intended for anyone but me. Yesterday when Chris and I got there, there was a log just in the right place that was the right height for us to put on and take off skates. You were surrounded by Sapphire Sky roses, which are my favorite. Most importantly, though, you woke when I kissed you. If you weren’t meant for me, the magic wouldn’t have worked.” _I think._

“Then why do the unicorns want me back?” _So I can stay a virgin forever, I guess._

“We don’t know that they do. It is possible that it was a coincidence.” Victor noted the skeptical faces surrounding him. “But we should ask Chris for his opinion tonight at dinner.” 

“Speaking of, I’m going to go grab my own dinner, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Phichit set his tea cup down and stood. “No need to see me out. Have a good night!" 

“I’ll go lay out your clothes for dinner,” Alexei offered. “Would you like yours in your room, Yuuri?” 

_So I don’t have to change with Victor. Thank you, Alexei._ “That would be fine.” 

“I already made the seating arrangements so you can sit with Victor. You’ll have Yuri, Mila, and Chris to your right, and Victor to your left. Just watch what they’re doing, and you’ll be fine.” 

“Was it obvious I was panicking?” 

“Yes. I’ll be gone longer than five minutes this time.” Alexei winked and left the room. 

“Don’t worry about dinner, _solnysko,_ there’s no way you can embarrass me or upset me. I never like what’s for dinner, but there’s always food available during evening court, so you won’t go hungry. We can always get a late dinner brought up, too. I don’t usually order food after about 9, and then usually just ask for whatever Cook has available, but we can actually get a meal if we want. Small benefit of being a prince." 

Yuuri nodded. “I’ve had so much to eat today that I don’t know how much dinner I even need. Phichit had fried peach pies and sweet peach tea for me.” 

Victor looked comically furious. “Why was I not included?!” 

“You were at audiences?” 

“Such a pathetic excuse. I _will_ have fried pies by the end of tomorrow.” He giggled. “I’m glad you had fun with Phichit.” 

“He’s crazy. I didn’t know it was possible to smile that much. His art is amazing.” 

“It is. He’s extremely talented. The painting of my mother that he gave to my father is beautiful, but I hope you never have to see it.” 

“Why?" 

“Because that would mean you were in my father’s office, and that’s the last place on earth you want to be. Actually, I’d rather be burning in one of the seven hells than in my father’s office.” 

“Oh. Will he be at dinner?” 

“Yes, but he won’t acknowledge either of us at all the entire time. He never does. I had Alexei sit with me at dinner once and he didn’t even notice.” 

That seemed incomprehensible to Yuuri, who knew he had a warm relationship with is family. “I’m sorry, Victor. That’s so sad.” _But I just remembered something, so yeah for me?_

Victor looked away for a few moments, then met Yuuri’s eyes. “I’m sorry too.” He shook his head. “Anyway, let’s not talk about my father. Let’s pretend he doesn’t exist.” 

Seeing Victor in pain was horrible. Victor should never be sad. Yuuri cupped his cheek, and pressed a small kiss to his lips. “Please smile. You have the most beautiful smile, Victor.” 

The sweetest of smiles graced Victor’s lips. “A kiss from you will always make me smile.” He kissed Yuuri, slow and sweet. Well aware that Alexei could walk in at any time, Victor tried to keep it from escalating. 

He failed. 

Miserably. 

It was Yuuri’s fault, because _he_ made the first move to deepen the kiss this time, pulling Victor closer with an arm around his waist. _Yuuri_ was ever-so-slightly _aggressive_ with his tongue, which was thoroughly intoxicating. It was absolutely not Victor’s fault that he pulled the other man nearly into his lap to kiss him, was holding him so tightly that he could feel the muscles moving in Yuuri’s back, and had one hand on his hip. _Low_ on his hip. Eventually he had to stop to breathe, but just used that as a chance to kiss down his neck. When Yuuri _moaned,_ he had to stop and count to 10. 

“Victor,” Yuuri breathed as he felt the prince in question panting against his collar bone. “I’m-I-I’m really enjoying this.” 

“But?” 

“But I don’t want to be in your lap when Alexei comes back in the room.” 

_Damned voice of reason._ “You have a point.” Victor relaxed his hold on Yuuri’s body so that he could move back a little. 

And then there was the awkward moment when Yuuri realized just how much he’d been enjoying kissing Victor, and just how obvious it was. Mortified didn’t even begin to cover it. “Um…” He was pretty sure he was setting a record for how red a person’s face could be. 

Victor chuckled. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s normal, _solnyshko,_ I’m just as affected by you.” _That sounds so much more elegant than ‘I’m so fucking hard I’m going to scream.’_

_Victor…is aroused by me?_ “I’m still embarrassed. I mean, we’re in the sitting room.” 

“This sofa has seen far worse.” _If these walls could talk…_

“Oh.” Yuuri had all sorts of scenarios running through his mind, but was somewhat limited by not knowing a lot about what was possible. 

Victor reached over and picked up Yuuri’s tea, and placed it in his hands. “Relax, Yuuri. I’m not judging you. Even if Alexei walked into the room and we were having sex on the sofa, he wouldn’t judge you.” _It’s not like that hasn’t happened before…_

“There’s a lot I don’t know, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to know.” He sipped his tea. 

Victor kissed his forehead. “We’ll go as slowly as you need. I will never push you into something you’re not comfortable with. You can always say no, and I will stop. No matter what.” 

“I’ve only known you a day.” 

“You’re…right. It feels like I’ve known you all my life.” Victor looked into Yuuri’s warm brown eyes. “It really only has been a day.” 

“I feel like I’ve known you forever, but my anxiety reminds me hourly that that’s not the case.” Yuuri looked into Victor’s eyes. “You’re so easy to love, and I’m so scared.” 

“Oh, Yuuri,” Victor whispered, and carefully wrapped his arms around him, tea and all. “I love you so much, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.” 

_But I’ll never be safe from you,_ Yuuri thought. _You’re everything I want, but I don’t know enough about myself to trust it._

Alexei kindly cleared his throat from the doorway rather than teasing them. “Your dinner clothes are ready, gentlemen. I got word that tonight’s court event is dancing. You’re lucky you missed last night, it was a play so tedious that most of the court decided to go to bed early.” 

Yuuri looked confused, so Victor explained. “We have some ridiculous entertainment nearly every night after dinner that everyone has to attend just to be seen with the right people. Most nights it’s either dancing or just music for mingling with people and getting into trouble in shadowy corners of the gardens. Sometimes, though, it’s a play, or a singer, or even acrobats. In the summer, at least, you can escape into the gardens. In the winter, you’re trapped with the boredom.” 

“Do you have to go every night?” 

“Unfortunately, yes. I have to at least make an appearance. Unless I find handsome young men in the woods and put them to sleep in my bed.” 

Yuuri giggled a little. “I hope that doesn’t happen too often.” 

Victor grinned. “Just the once, but that was enough.” He leaned close and gave him a little peck on the lips. “Go get dressed, and Alexei will help you with your hair.” 

Yuuri wasn’t sure what to do with the clothes he was already wearing, so he folded them and left them on the end of the bed. The white silk shirt was cool and soft against his skin, and the trousers were soft as well. Alexei had hemmed them expertly; with his shoes on they were precisely the right length. Pants, in general, felt odd. He didn’t know what people wore on their legs in his homeland, but it wasn’t something this snug. He wondered what they looked like from the back. 

There was a small mirror on the wall next to the door, and Yuuri assumed it was so that he whoever was using the room could check their appearance on the way out. He looked at himself. The collar of the white shirt was ruffled, and left his throat and part of his chest exposed. His hair was flopping in his face as usual, he wondered what Alexei was going to do with it. He looked so very different from the people here, with his dark, almond-shaped eyes and faintly darker skin. Not has tan as Phichit, but not the creamy ivory pallor that Victor sported. Alexei, Yuri, and Mila were all very fair, whereas Yuuri had duskier golden skin. _What do I look like to Victor? Am I just interesting because I’m different?_

 _No. Victor loves me. I can feel it._ He really could, like sunlight against his cheeks, only centered around his heart. He was sure that he was feeling Victor’s affection. He hoped Victor could feel his love. “I love him so much,” Yuuri whispered to his reflection. It was bizarre and weird and like nothing he could have imagined, but he loved Victor with all of the depths of his soul. 

A soft knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, and he opened it. Victor was smiling at him from the hall. “I came to see if you needed help, you’ve been gone a while.” 

“Oh, sorry, no, I, um, was looking in the mirror.” Yuuri could feel himself blushing. _Why am I so awkward all the time?_ “How do I look?” 

“Absolutely beautiful.” Victor arranged the silky ruffles over the patterned vest. “I like that I can see a little skin,” he teased. 

“Oh, is it okay? 

“Very okay.” To prove it, Victor leaned down for a kiss. “You look wonderful.” _I want to unbutton that shirt and kiss all the way down your chest._ “I hope I looked this sexy when I wore it.” 

Yuuri laughed a little. “Weren’t you 17? I hope you didn’t look too sexy.” 

Victor laughed. “I was _not_ a very innocent 17. Sexy was my goal a lot of the time. My hair was still long then, and I attracted a lot of attention.” 

_Victor would have been so beautiful in this outfit with his long hair._ “Are there any pictures of you with long hair?” 

“Yes, they’re in my mother’s room. I’ll show them to you tomorrow. But you can see in the sketch that Aunt Adela did I had long hair when I was 12.” 

Yuuri turned to look at the picture above the fireplace. It was of two young boys, one clearly Victor, reading under a tree with dappled shade. _Komorebi,_ Yuuri’s mind whispered, but it disappeared before he could catch it. It was a very nice sketch, done with light colors. “That’s your friend Chris?” 

“Yes. Wasn’t he cute? Puberty hit him hard.” 

“Is that good or bad?” 

“Very good. He’s really attractive now, and was extremely popular until he fell in love with Tristan. He still gets propositioned all the time.” So did Victor, but he didn’t mention it. 

“Oh. His mother is a good artist.” 

“She is, another one of her drawings is in my mother’s room, you can see it tomorrow. I’ll warn you now, it’s a unicorn.” 

Yuuri laughed. “God, they’re everywhere. Okay, what is Alexei going to do with my hair?” 

They headed into the hall, and then to the sitting room. “Yesterday when I found you, your hair was pushed back from your face, and it looked really gorgeous.” 

“Oh.” Yuuri was quiet for a minute. “I don’t have a clear memory, but I don’t think anyone has ever called me ‘gorgeous’ before.” 

“I’ll tell you how beautiful you are all the time to make up for it.” 

“There you are, Yuuri. Come sit at Victor’s dressing table and I’ll see what I can do with your hair.” 

The windows in Victor’s room were open to the warm air and Yuuri noticed this time how pretty Victor’s room was. All of the furniture was carved with flowers and vines, and polished to be warm and mellow. The curtains on the canopy bed were a soft blue brocade, with an overall pattern of roses, and accented with green and lavender. The coverlet was also blue, but was beautifully embroidered with a spray of lavender and pink roses, as well as other flowers in an array of similar colors, and vivid green leaves. By the fireplace there were two chairs upholstered in brown velvet, which matched the sofa in the other room, and green carpets, figured like the ones in the Queen’s Wing, softened the dark wood floors. Trinkets and pictures were everywhere, including a beautiful sketch of Queen Vasilysa above the mantle 

“That’s a beautiful picture of your mother.” 

“It is. Aunt Adela drew it for me.” Victor smiled. “Okay, sit so Alexei can do your hair. It’s almost time for dinner.” 

Yuuri settled on the brown velvet stool, and looked in the ornate mirror. Alexei appeared behind him. “I’m going to use a little pomade to slick your hair back. You’ll look more mature and put together.” He scooped some…stuff…out of a little jar. “It’s easy to wash out. Don’t run your hands through your hair after I fix it, it will look hilariously bad.” Yuuri watched, fascinated, as Alexei gently ran his fingers through his hair and it stayed in place. Not perfectly, a few strands refused to be tamed, but the talented valet dubbed it, “Charming and artless, a good look for you.” 

“That looks really, really good.” Victor leaned over Yuuri’s shoulder, and their eyes met in the mirror. “Sexy as hell. Here, put your glasses on so you can actually see.” 

He was surprised to see that it actually did look good. “You’re right, more mature and put together.” 

“It suits you. And your hair won’t be in your face when you’re dancing.” Alexei put the paste back on the dressing table and wiped his hands on a towel. 

As they stood by the door, Victor paused, and turned to Alexei. To Yuuri’s surprise, they exchanged a hug. “It will be okay. You’ll have Yuuri there, and your cousins and Chris.” Alexei turned to Yuuri. “I’ll give you a hug, too.” He squeezed the shorter man gently. “It will be okay. Victor won’t let you embarrass yourself. He loves you and will keep an eye on you. You can trust Chris and Mila to keep you safe no matter what. Kick Yuri if you have the chance.” 

Yuuri felt better, oddly enough. When Victor offered him his hand, he took it. 

With a deep breath, Yuuri followed Victor out the door. 

Visual aid: I drew the sketch Phichit did of Yuuri. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/42470868545/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE UNICORNS ARE BACK BABY
> 
> I love Phichit. I just love Phichit. I had to find a way for him to be in the story! What do you think of his talent? I wanted him to do something really unique and still be true to his skills (selfies).


	7. In which dinner is terrible and Yuuri learns a lot of new skills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter is long! Before you get started, I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the support. Your comments and kudos mean everything!

“Dinner will be about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It comes in courses, so servants will be putting plates over your shoulder the entire time. There is a ridiculous array of silver wear that you will most likely not touch, Yuri and I will make sure you see which damned fork and knife to use. With the first course, there will be white wine, with the main course they’ll pour red. It doesn’t matter if you like wine, you probably won’t like these. After dinner there will be food and wine that are actually enjoyable available.” Victor squeezed Yuuri’s hand. “I’m guessing you don’t know any of the popular dances around here, so we don’t have to spend all evening at court if you don’t want to.”

“Alright. Maybe you can teach me to dance,” Yuuri joked. 

“Actually, I bet I can teach you to waltz. I’m not bragging when I say I’m a very good dancer, and the waltz isn’t a difficult dance to do or to teach.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll try if you think I’m not hopeless.”

“Just watching you walk I can see that you’re not hopeless. You’re very graceful and have good posture.”

“Oh.” Yuuri could feel himself blushing. “Thank you.”

“I’m going to warn you now, that when we walk up to the high table together, people will stare. I’m going to let go of your hand before we go in, not because I don’t want to hold your hand, but because of court etiquette.” Victor smiled at the wide-eyed look Yuuri was giving him. “Married people don’t even usually hold hands at dinner. If we walked to the table holding hands, everyone would assume I’d already proposed to you, you’d said yes, and my father had blessed the union. Since he doesn’t know you exist, that could be really awkward for both of us tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Yuuri felt really overwhelmed. 

“I flout tradition and defy etiquette pretty frequently, but not when my father is in the same room.” Victor pulled Yuuri to the side of the hall a short distance from the doors to the dining room, and reluctantly released his hand. “I have guests with me at dinner regularly, so no one will be staring because we’re doing something wrong or weird, they’re just curious and bored.” Victor looked around. “There are too many people that my father knows standing around, I can’t kiss you.”

That surprised a little nervous giggle out of Yuuri. “You don’t have to kiss me every time we stop moving.”

“I disagree.”

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“I know.” Victor couldn’t look away from Yuuri’s sparkling eyes.

“I love you for it,” Yuuri whispered.

Victor beamed like he’d won a beauty pageant. “I love you, too.” He took Yuuri’s hand briefly and squeezed his fingers. “Let’s go sit, the sooner this is over, the better.”

Yuuri braced himself at the doors for how many people would be watching him. He followed Victor, and tried to not to look around, he didn’t want to see the expressions on the courtiers’ faces. _I shouldn’t have worn my glasses. Then I’d have no idea if they saw me or not._

There were two steps up onto the dais that supported the high table. The King’s spot at the center of the table was obvious from the mini-throne, and there were six chairs on each side of him. Victor took the chair to the right of the King’s empty one, and Yuuri sat beside him. The room was overwhelmingly opulent and ornate, with gilded surfaces, glittering chandeliers, and mirrors to amplify the light. Dozens, maybe even as many as 100 people were already gathered at the tables below, and more were moving about. And dear god, it was _loud._ Just, so loud. Most of the people were not speaking a language Yuuri understood, so he just watched with a kind of detached terror and extreme discomfort. 

“Yuuri, relax,” Victor murmured into his ear, squeezing his thigh under the table. “You look like you’re going to faint.”

“No, no, I won’t faint.” _I hope._ “This room is so big, and--”

“—and hideous--”

“—there are so many people, and wait, what?”

“This room, it’s hideous.” Victor cocked his head toward the gaudy mini-throne. “Most of the rooms in the palace are very ornate and traditional, with heavy colors and wood, the audience chamber and the throne room are like that. There are a lot of rooms and corridors that were updated by my mother, and they’re lighter and more relaxed, with gentle colors. Then there is this monstrosity.” 

“It is very, um, shiny.”

“It’s a fucking disaster,” came a growl from Yuuri’s right. He turned quickly to see Yuri sitting down. “Our grandmother started a palace overhaul when our parents were kids, and our grandfather shut her down after this shitshow was debuted.”

“Oh,” Yuuri replied weakly. “Hi, Yurio.”

“That’s not my name.” 

“It suits you, though.” Mila had appeared. “Good evening, Yuuri. I see you found something to wear for dinner, you look very handsome.”

“Oh, thank you. It’s Victor’s.”

“I wore it when I was 17, but clearly I was ahead of the fashion trends, because it’s still stylish.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” 

“Oh, there’s Chris.” Victor waved so that Yuuri could see who he was talking about when he waved back. “If he drapes himself over me, don’t take it personally.”

“Huh?”

“They’re complete pervs with each other,” Yuri grumbled. “Chris will grab your ass, I guarantee it.”

Yuuri was alarmed. “Did he--”

“He’s never grabbed Yurio’s ass, don’t worry.”

“No, gross, he’s 10 years older than I am! And that’s not my name.”

Yuuri looked at the tall blond with concern. He was, as Victor had mentioned, very attractive and dressed much the same way he and Victor were in soft, ruffled shirts with waistcoats. His outfit seemed to have been tailored to accentuate his derriere…and Yuuri had to admit that from what he could see, it was a good choice. “Did you say he has a boyfriend?”

“Yes, one he’s very devoted to.”

“So he’ll drape himself over you why?”

“Because they’re disgusting,” Yurio interjected. “I already told you.”

“Because we were lovers for years,” Victor murmured so that only Yuuri could hear. “And played off of each other to flirt with other men. We were never boyfriends, though. When Chris told me about Tristan, we decided to keep up the appearance that we were sleeping together but still looking so that it wouldn’t be obvious that he wasn’t sleeping around anymore.”

While Victor was explaining, leaving Yuuri more than a little uncomfortable, slightly jealous, and reasonably confused, Chris himself joined them. Up close, he could see that Chris had hazel green eyes and the longest, thickest eyelashes he’d ever seen. And an absolutely beautiful smile.

“Yuuri, it’s good to see you again! Technically, Victor should introduce us, but who cares, I’m Chris, nice to meet you. Normally we greet with cheek kisses, but you don’t need to get up.”

“He means he’s Christophe Giacometti, Crown Prince of Schweiz,” Victor corrected with a smile in his voice. “Hello to you too, Chris.”

Chris turned to look at his friend. “Oh, hi, nice to see you,” he muttered, deadpan. When Victor laughed, Chris did too, and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I can’t wait to hear all about your adventures today, gentleman.”

“There it is,” Yuri commented.

“What?” Yuuri felt just as puzzled as Victor looked.

“The innuendo. I was waiting for it.” Yuri smirked. “But since you haven’t molested anyone at the table yet, I’ll consider this a blessing.”

“You know, Yuri, someday someone will come along that leaves you speechless and blushing, and I’m going to be there, and I’m going to love every minute of it.” Chris blew him a kiss. “I invited Tristan to join us after dinner, if that’s alright.”

“Of course.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the trumpets heralding the King’s arrival. Victor squeezed Yuuri’s knee. “Just look at the doors, it will seem like you’re paying attention but you won’t actually meet his eyes.”

That sounded like sage advice from someone who’d lived this way a long time. Yuuri nodded just a little so Victor would know he’d heard him.

King Anton was a tall, broad, intimidating man, with silver-shot black hair and a thick beard. Despite the heat of the dining room, he was wearing a heavy black tunic, stiff with gold embroidery, and a high-collared shirt. Unlike anyone that Yuuri had seen the entire day, he was wearing a sword. The entire room stood when he appeared in the doorway, and Yuuri scrambled to follow suit. It was still enough to hear a pin drop as the King marched to the high table, and no one moved a muscle until he’d been assisted into his seat by a servant. Hushed conversation restarted as everyone was resuming their seats, but Yuuri noticed that no one on his side of the high table was speaking. Victor, especially, looked strained. Without even thinking, Yuuri placed his hand very gently on Victor’s thigh. _I’m right here,_ he whispered mentally. _I’ll take care of you, like you’ve taken care of me all day. I love you, Victor._

It really seemed that Victor had heard him, because he covered Yuuri’s hand with his own, and turned just enough to let him see that he was smiling just a little. Victor squeezed his hand, and Yuuri almost heard an _‘I love you’_ back.

Servants began silently placing food in front of the diners at the high table, the King first then Victor, before the others. Yuuri looked at his with curiosity. It was soup, but didn’t have any real aroma. He waited to see what Victor and Yuri would do before he moved.

“When everyone at our table has their food, the King will pick up his spoon, then we can start eating,” Yuri whispered to him. “It’s the big spoon closest to the bowl. The food will be gross, but don’t spit it out.”

As thankful as Yuuri was for Yuri’s help, he had to wonder, from everything he’d heard, why the hell dinner was so bad if there was good food available at every other time of day? He snuck a glance at Victor, and saw that the prince was slightly amused, probably by Yuri being helpful, which seemed so out of character. “This is carrot and mint soup,” he murmured to Yuuri, “So it’s supposed to be cold. In my experience it tastes like vegetable broth and toothpaste had a baby.” He just nodded.

When the King took his first sip of soup, the rest of the court started eating. And Victor was right, it tasted like vegetable broth and toothpaste had a baby. He only took a few bites, it was really vile. Glancing to either side, he saw that Victor and Yuri were doing the same thing. Slow, tiny sips, and only a few. When the King was finished, servants cleared away the bowls and spoons. 

Victor leaned over a little. The King had started speaking with one of the men on his left, and he could relax. “Next will be the salad course. If we’re lucky, it will actually be salad.”

“What would it be if not salad?”

“Well, night before last it was a cold, vegetable-like food, but I couldn’t decide if it qualified as a salad.”

“No, it qualified as salad, but not as food, you’ve got it backwards,” Yuri whispered.

Yuuri smothered a laugh. At least he wasn’t expected to enjoy what was being put in front of him.

Soon enough, a salad was served. Victor expressed muted enthusiasm toward it…well, maybe just a lack of disappointment. “Well, it has lettuce and dressing.” He shook his head. “It’s the bigger of the two small forks.”

Yuuri poked at the leaves, and decided that ‘not too soggy’ was the best he could give to the dish. He was afraid to put the damp greens in his mouth, but did it anyway. Luckily, it just didn’t taste like much of anything. Like with the soup, he ate a few small bites very slowly, and waited for a servant to whisk it away.

“Definitely salad, but not quite food,” Yuri muttered. “Zhenya might have liked it.”

“Who’s that?” Yuuri asked.

“My horse.”

“The next course is the poultry course,” Victor murmured, drawing Yuuri’s attention with a hand on his knee. “It will be a piece of some kind of bird, usually with a light sauce and vegetables. In the winter it’s usually a chicken or duck pie, but since it’s summer, it’s more likely something that didn’t require as much oven time. It’s the second biggest fork, and the small knife.”

Yuuri watched as the dish was set in front of him. Like the last two courses, it was visually appealing, and looked like it should be good to eat. He watched how Victor cut his chunk of bird, pretty sure he’d never used a knife and fork in that manner before.

“It’s quail,” Yuri murmured to him. “It’s pretty tender, don’t push too hard with the knife.”

Carefully, following Yuri’s example, Yuuri cut into the tiny quail breast. It actually wasn’t terrible. _I think I could like quail, maybe if it wasn’t in this weird sauce._ He tried the vegetable, which appeared to be squash, and realized that whoever planned this meal was unaware of the existence of salt. If he could only take a few bites, it was okay, because the quail breast was barely more than a mouthful as it was.

“Victor.”

“Hmm?”

“What happened to the rest of the bird?”

Victor looked blank for a moment, then laughed silently. “It does seem like a waste to just serve each person one quail breast, huh? Luckily, I know the answer because Alexei told me once. Tomorrow there will be grilled quail on the salads and quail pies offered for lunch. I can always have whatever I want for lunch, so I had no idea what happened to the rest of the animal.”

“Oh, that makes perfect sense.”

“If you’d like to see what quail actually tastes like, we can have some for lunch tomorrow. It’s actually very good.”

“I’d like that, thanks.” Yuuri smiled. He’d only sipped a little of the dreadful wine, but felt a little drunk from the look in Victor’s eyes. “What course is next?”

“Since we haven’t heard otherwise, the beef course. If there’s been a hunt, we have venison or bear or boar or what not.”

“Do you only have wild pigs?”

Victor laughed. “Pretty much, domesticated pork is served for breakfast and lunch only. And tea, you can get sandwiches made of almost anything for tea. Oh, here’s the course. Thank every god, it’s not tongue.”

A very small, round piece of beef with a sauce that looked like it was based in red wine was perched on a tiny mound of something white and surrounded by what he thought might be cooked mushrooms. There was only one large fork and one large knife left, so he didn’t have a problem knowing which ones to use. He watched how Victor cut the meat and tried to copy him. This meat was a lot tougher, but he didn’t make too much of a mess.

The sauce was not red wine. It was something fruity but too bland to determine a flavor. The beef was almost flavorless, and the same person who didn’t believe in salt had made the vegetables in this course. The mushrooms were actually okay, whoever had made them had at least a passing understanding of seasoning. This was the least satisfying meal Yuuri could ever have imagined.

“The next course is dessert,” Yuri told him. “Depending on what it is, you’ll either use the tiny fork or the tiny spoon. They don’t usually fuck up dessert too badly, but you never know. Last night was cake that tasted like they forgot to put sugar in it.”

Like all of the other courses, it was very pretty, it was a shiny, wiggly dome of dark purple that had a flower shape pressed into the top. “What on earth..?”

“It’s a gelatin,” Victor murmured, clearly amused. “They’re extremely difficult to make, or so I’ve heard, so they’re popular for dinner during the summer. If it tastes like anything, I’ll be amazed.” He picked up the tiny spoon and scooped out a portion. “Let’s see.” He popped it in his mouth. “Well, it might be blueberry.”

Yuri tried it. “I don’t know, maybe blueberry, but maybe just left over berry juice?”

Curious, Yuuri pushed his spoon into the surprisingly firm mass and separated a tiny piece. He looked at it with a critical eye for a moment before putting it in his mouth. “This is food?”

Victor and Yuri both laughed quietly. “I have had jellies at my aunt’s house that actually taste delicious,” Victor clarified. “They don’t have to be baked, which keeps the kitchen cooler.”

“Aunt Evgenia also puts whipped cream on top of hers, that really improves them,” Yuri commented. Evgenia wasn’t actually Yuri’s relation at all, but she’d adopted him without question when the Queen had included him in festivities when he’d been little.

“I’ll have to take your word for it, I guess.”

“Actually, my aunt is having a party in a couple days and I hadn’t had a chance to ask anyone to go. Would you like to go with me? I was going to ask Yuri, Mila, and Chris, too. I’ll tell Chris to bring Tristan.”

“Oh, okay, if you think it’s okay for me to be there.”

“Duh, you’re his boyfriend, it’s okay for you to go,” Yuri quipped. “Besides, Aunt Evgenia loves it when Victor brings people to her parties.”

“It’s true. She’ll love you. And it’s not at the palace so we can relax a little.”

“That’s why Chris can bring his boyfriend.”

“Exactly.” Victor looked to his left just a tad. “My father is almost done with his dessert, in the next few minutes he’ll stand up and we all have to be silent. Some nights he says something, others he doesn’t. Once he leaves, we can get up, and we’ll go to the ballroom. I’ll hold your hand so we don’t get separated.”

Yuuri was amazed at how quickly the room went silent when the King stood. Victor was looking straight ahead, obviously trying to be invisible. _God, poor Victor. I have to make sure I never draw attention to myself, I don’t want to get Victor in trouble._

After a few tense moments, King Anton gave a single curt nod, and left the room. Yuuri watched Victor essentially melt with relief. “Oh thank all the gods and goddesses, dinner is over. I need champagne.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “And probably something to eat so it doesn’t go straight to my head.”

“Considering how fucking drunk you were the other night, that’s probably a good idea, moron.”

Victor laughed. “Chris told me I twirled you around and kissed your cheek.”

“It was humiliating. I hate dancing with you anyway.”

Yuuri stood up when he realized Victor was waiting for him. “I should probably eat something, too. If I don’t, I’ll regret it.” He wasn’t sure if he could call the hazy images laced with embarrassment memories, so he tried to ignore them.

“It will be a little while before the musicians are ready, we can go to the buffet room.” Mila smiled at Yuuri. “Have you had champagne before?”

“I have no idea. Is it like wine?”

“Don’t tell him,” Chris interrupted. “Champagne is divine, but it should be a surprise.”

“Um, okay…”

Victor laughed. “No, actually, I think you’re right. There is other wine, and lemonade if champagne doesn’t agree with you.”

“Don’t let me drink too much,” Yuuri begged. “I’d hate to have more missing memories.”

Chris looked concerned. “Missing memories? Is it more than just not remembering meeting me yesterday? Victor’s note just said ‘he doesn’t remember anything’ and wasn’t specific.”

“I don’t remember anything about my past life. I get little hints, for instance, I know my people don’t dress anything like this, but I have no idea how we _do_ dress.”

“That’s awful.” Chris squeezed his arm. “Maybe when Sara gets here, she’ll know more about the spell that you were under.”

“Sara?”

“That’s the famous sorceress I was telling you about.” Victor tugged Yuuri to follow him. “I’m starving, seriously, dinner was worse than usual.”

The buffet was a huge assortment of foods that could be eaten without sitting at a formal dining table. Vegetables, meats, cheeses, and breads for sandwiches; crackers with various types of spreads and dips to scoop onto them; fruit, little cakes, puddings, and pastries for treats; glasses of wine and lemonade on the sideboard for anyone to take. Yuuri really wanted to ask why dinner had been so terrible when there were clearly skilled people with excellent materials in the kitchen providing food, but thought he probably shouldn’t.

“Tristan has told me that he enjoys eating with Alexei and his friends because the servants have better food for dinner than the courtiers.” Chris was taking a small plate from the stack at the near end of the table. “I asked him if he wanted to come to dinner with me tonight and he laughed.” 

“Take a plate, Yuuri, and you can get something to eat. That cheese, with the tiny holes? It’s amazing with the rare beef.”

Yuuri was pretty sure cheese was not a thing in his life, because this all looked pretty foreign. “Why does the cheese have holes in it?” He used the tiny fork to put a slice of cheese and a slice of roast beef on the plate.

“Well, they’re bubbles, but I don’t know what makes them,” Chris explained. “But lacy cheese is one of the specialties of my country.”

Eventually the small slices of meat and cheese were set on pieces of fragrant bread, and Mila instructed Yuuri to drizzle tiny amounts of oil and vinegar over the top, and then added some crushed herbs. “This will tide you over for a bit,” she explained. “When the musicians take a break, if you’re hungry again, you can come back for something else.” 

Tiny meal eaten, the group went back to the ballroom just in time to see that the musicians were tuning. “Is Tristan meeting us in the gardens at 8:00 again?” Victor asked Chris as they moved through the crowd.

“Yes, by the lavender roses.” 

Yuuri was amused, and rather charmed, by the bashful smile and flushed cheeks that Chris was sporting, having learned that he was the opposite of bashful not an hour earlier. _He’s like a girl with her first crush, it’s so cute._ “How long have you and Tristan been together?” He couldn’t remember if Victor had said anything about that.

“Three years in September.” At Yuuri’s skeptical look, he laughed. “I know, I act like I’m 14 and we’ve known each other two weeks and it’s true love forever and ever. But really, almost three years. I swear it was love at first sight.”

“Well, if Victor can kiss me awake in the middle of a frozen pond, there’s no reason you couldn’t fall in love at first sight with someone in a totally normal place like a house or something.” 

Chris laughed. “My office, actually. My secretary at the time came in while I was talking to my cat to see if I’d offer him a place in my household. He was absolutely gorgeous, swooned over my cat immediately, and promised he was organized and a good writer. But then he smiled and I knew I was going to love him forever. Please don’t tell him this, but I would have proposed to him at that minute if I had been capable of forming words.”

Victor and Yuuri both laughed. “Now Cheri has two devoted cat slaves.”

“She really does. We call her the Crown Princess. Amelie even made her a tiny crown.” At Yuuri’s look, he clarified, “Tristan’s sister. She watches her when we travel.”

As they were talking, the first dance began. It was something robust and dynamic, and Yuuri was not surprised when lifting and spinning your partner was involved. “I wonder what dancing is like where I’m from?”

“Probably not like this, this dance is from Schweiz,” Chris replied. “I always try to pick small people to dance with for this one.”

“There was the time I led, so I had to lift you. That was amusing.”

“We agreed to never discuss that again.” 

“It was hysterical,” Victor whispered to Yuuri loud enough that Chris could hear him.

“Dancing looks fun.” Yuuri was wistful. “I wish I knew how.”

“Like I said, I’m sure I can teach you to waltz well enough to dance tonight. We can teach you more dances in the next few days.”

“The music is nice, too.”

Victor seemed distracted for a moment, then brightened. “Ah, champagne is on its way.”

Yuuri watched a uniformed servant approaching with a tray of glasses of pale liquid. Each of them took a glass, including Yuuri, and Victor thanked the man. “It has bubbles.”

“It does, take a sip, the bubbles make it more interesting than regular wine.”

Cautious, and annoyed that everyone else was watching him, Yuuri raised the glass to his lips and took a small drink. The bubbles definitely enhanced the light wine. “It’s very nice. Quit staring at me.”

“You have to be cautious with champagne,” Chris warned. “The bubbles make it go to your head faster than other wine.” He took a drink and closed his eyes. “Exquisite.” 

That was good to know. Getting drunk was definitely not Yuuri’s goal. “Thank you.”

They sipped their drinks, laughing at Victor’s and Chris’s stories of really bad dancing incidents, Mila and Yuri adding their own (especially with Chris and Victor). Yuuri tried to imagine the two men doing lifts and twirls and who knows what together, since neither was especially petite. 

“Let’s go out to the gardens, there’s more room to teach you to dance,” Victor suggested. “And it’s cooler.”

It took close to 15 minutes to gracefully move through the crowd to get to the doors. _I guess shoving our way through would be inappropriate,_ Yuuri thought. It didn’t help that people kept talking to Victor and Chris, and men kept staring at Mila and not getting out of the way. At the door they all breathed a sigh of relief. And Yuuri was enchanted by the gardens.

“Those are the lights you mentioned this morning, right?”

Victor nodded. “They slowly change colors over the course of the night. There are really nice night-blooming flowers that smell amazing. And plenty of shadowy bowers for being naughty.”

Yuuri blushed just thinking of the thrill of being in a ‘shadowy bower’ with Victor. Doing…things…outdoors sounded very…interesting. “It’s beautiful.” 

“There’s a lawn just down the steps and past the night lilies.” Victor tugged Yuuri by their joined hands. “Plenty of room to dance.”

The lawn was empty, there was still enough light in the sky to see easily, and small lanterns glowed around the perimeter. The grass was so soft and springy that he wished he wasn’t wearing shoes. 

“Alright, _solnyshko,_ watch first.” Victor offered his hand to Chris, who took it with a smile. “I’m going to lead this time, so pay attention to our feet, Chris will basically be doing what I do but backwards.”

“That doesn’t sound confusing at all.”

Mila laughed. “Really, once you see them dancing, and get the feel for the beat, you’ll have no problem at all.”

Without music, the dance lost some of its magic, but Victor and Chris were excellent dancers, and moved so fluidly and in such perfect sync that Yuuri was fascinated. He watched their feet, and turned to Mila. “It’s in a pattern of threes, right? And they’re making a square.”

“Excellent! Yes, that’s exactly right. A box step. Here, copy my steps.” Mila began dancing the ‘following’ part of the waltz without a partner, and Yuuri watched a moment before doing it himself. 

“You’re doing it wrong,” Yuri complained. “It’s easier when you have a partner.”

“Here, Yuuri, try it with me.” Victor had stopped dancing with Chris and held his hand out to his boyfriend. “We’ll start slow, and I’ll help you. Don’t worry if you step on my feet.”

It felt so right to be in Victor’s arms. “I’ll do my best.” 

“You have good posture, you’re holding yourself just right.” He placed Yuuri’s hand on his shoulder. “Since I’m leading, I’ll have my hand on your waist.”

“Don’t be surprised if it ends up on your ass,” Yuri called out. Chris and Mila laughed.

“I’m going to step forward with my left foot, so you’ll step back with your right.”

Yuuri looked down to be sure he was doing it right, and stepped back lightly. Remembering what Mila and Chris had done, he stepped to the side then rested his weight on his right foot. “Like this?”

“That’s perfect. Now our first step of the three is going to go the other direction. You’re going to step forward, and I’m going to step back.” Victor watched as Yuuri followed him flawlessly. “Wow, are you sure you haven’t danced before?”

“I’m actually _not_ sure,” Yuuri laughed. “But I don’t remember dancing.”

After a few more slow practice steps, Victor increased the pace. “Most waltzes are moderately fast,” he explained. “Let’s see how you do.”

Yuuri did surprisingly well. Like, shockingly well.

“You, _lyubov moya,_ are a natural.” Victor kissed him right there in front of everyone. “Next step, how to not just stay in a little box. Watch me with Chris.”

This time, the two men rotated a quarter turn with each step, and made larger steps. “You’re twisting the box, and making it bigger, right?”

“Exactly. Let’s try it. I’m going to lead the turn, and you’ll follow on the first step, then you’ll be leading the second step.”

Yuuri didn’t have any problem with it at all, even when Victor sped up the tempo. Chris and Mila clapped. “You’re doing so well!” Mila gushed. “You look adorable.”

“You are doing remarkably well, Yuuri. Now let’s try the walking step. Basically we’re going to be going in one general direction, rather than around in a box. So instead of having a backwards step, we’ll keep going forward. Or, well, backward for you. I like to do three forward steps then one that rotates to the side, then go the next direction so we go around the entire room. On my second step forward, my foot will be between your feet, so don’t break my ankle.”

“Alright, I’ll try not to injure you.” Yuuri looked down for the first two steps but felt the direction Victor was leading for the rotation and looked up without missing a step. “What direction would you go next?”

“To the left, my forward step will be a little to the side so we can keep going.” He indicated it with a subtle movement of his arm. “Want to keep going? This time I won’t tell you we’re going to turn so you learn how to notice what I’m doing.” 

Yuuri nodded, face serious. He really wanted to dance with Victor, and also really wanted to _not_ embarrass either of them. “Go a little slowly at first?”

“Of course.”

Within two or three measures, Yuuri had learned how Victor would move when he was turning or changing direction just a bit. Following was, literally, following Victor’s movements so that they moved together. After a few more steps, Victor drew them to a stop.

“Amazing, _solnyshko,_ I can’t wait to dance with you.”

“Will that get you in trouble?”

“No, he dances with everyone,” Yuri groused. 

“But we’ll dance together more than once.”

“No need to worry, Yuuri, my father doesn’t care who I dance with. And I’ve danced with the same person before, it won’t seem odd.”

The bells chimed 8:00, and Chris smiled. “Come meet Tristan.”

The group strolled through the garden paths until they came to the roses…and the unicorn topiary. “They’re everywhere,” Yuuri muttered. He watched as a tall man dressed much like he was walked toward them, smiling, and Chris rushed to meet him. As Yuuri watched, they took each other’s hands, and just gazed at each other for a moment before sharing a kiss. Mila sighed.

“They are absolutely adorable,” she murmured. “Just, the cutest. I couldn’t picture Chris in a relationship, but now that I see it, it’s just so sweet.”

“Gross.”

Yuuri took Victor’s hand and leaned into his side. Victor responded by putting his arm around Yuuri’s shoulders. He shyly placed his around Victor’s waist, and received a kiss in return. “I love you,” he whispered. The words just begged to be said. Over and over again.

“I love you too, so much, Yuuri.”

“Gods, you’re all disgusting.”

“I can’t wait until you have a crush, Yura, we’re going to roast you,” Victor threatened.

Chris and Tristan walked over to them just as Yuri was opening his mouth to yell at Victor. “Tristan, this is Victor’s sleeping beauty, Yuuri, and his cousins, Mila and Yuri. This is Tristan, the love of my life.”

Tristan chuckled at Chris’s introduction. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

“We were teaching Yuuri to waltz so he and Victor can dance.” Chris smiled. “Your first dance is important. Enjoy it.”

Yuuri leaned his head against Victor’s shoulder. “I will.” He felt Victor kiss his hair.

“Let’s go back inside, love birds.” Mila sounded amused. “All of this lovey-dovey-ness is almost enough to make me want to date.”

A slow, stately dance was playing when they went back inside, and Yuuri watched how the dancers were barely touching each other, just delicately brushing each other’s hands. It was more of a walking pattern than a dance, and didn’t look like nearly as much fun as the dance that had been playing when they left, or the waltzing practice they’d just had on the lawn.

“This is an old-fashioned dance,” Victor explained. “It’s easy to learn, easy to do when drunk, and maintains appropriate distance between courting couples. It’s unbelievably dull.”

“It does look boring.” He noticed that most of the dancers were older courtiers. 

“Soooo boring,” Chris complained. “Victor and I tried to make it as sexual as possible and it was still boring.”

Yuuri and Tristan laughed. “It’s double pairs, you would have needed another couple to make it sexual.”

“We tried that, too, it was _still_ boring.”

The next dance was a popular dance from Schweiz, and Tristan offered his hand to Chris. “Dance with me, dearest?”

“Of course, love.”

“This is a traditional country dance.” Victor pointed vaguely toward a couple with his newly-acquired champagne. “See how you need a skirt to do all of the parts correctly?”

Yuuri nodded. “It looks like Chris is doing well enough without a skirt.”

“We’ve danced this together before, but typically we always asked girls to dance for this one.”

“You said you and Chris were lovers?” Yuuri tried to throttle down his jealousy.

Victor looked at him. “Yes, off and on. We never fell in love, though.” He looked at Yuuri’s face. “You’re not jealous, are you? Don’t worry, _lyubov moya,_ we’re close friends but nothing more. I don’t think anything could come between Chris and Tristan, and I know I will never stop loving you.”

Yuuri looked down, smiling ruefully. “Intellectually, I know there’s no reason to be jealous, but emotionally, I know that you’ve only known me a day and have no real reason to be attached to me.”

“Did you know that when true love is denied, it’s physically painful? When Chris couldn’t tell if Tristan was interested in him or not, and was afraid to ask him for fear of driving him away, he told me it would have been easier to die than to keep on as they were.”

“Oh. What happened?”

“One night Chris was so depressed about the situation he was crying, and Tristan just kissed him. It had been just as hard for him. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s true love between them. They’re soulmates.”

“Oh.” 

Victor noticed that he’d just managed to confuse Yuuri. “What I’m saying, is that I absolutely feel that level of devotion to you. If you were taken away from me, Yuuri, it would be easier to die. I don’t know if I can live without you.”

Looking into Victor’s eyes, Yuuri knew that he was telling the truth, and knew he felt exactly the same. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in our future, but I don’t know if I’d survive leaving you.” He started to feel a little panicked. “I love you so much that it scares me.”

He pulled Yuuri close. “I know, it’s overwhelming.” Victor tipped his head up with a finger under his chin, and kissed him softly. “I love you too, so much.”

The dance ended with a soft round of applause for the band, and Victor and Yuuri pulled away from each other just a little. Victor kept his hand on the small of Yuuri’s back, unwilling to let him go completely. _So I’m feeling possessive, shoot me._ The next dance was a waltz.

“May I have this dance?” Victor set his champagne glass on the side table behind him, and offered Yuuri his hand.

“Yes, of course,” Yuuri stammered, and was relieved when Victor took his glass and set it down. “I’ll try not to crush your feet.”

“Just remember what we did in practice, you’ll be fine. Watch what the other dancers are doing for a moment,” Victor suggested. “See how it’s a very gentle movement? Let me show you.” He gathered Yuuri in his arms, and stepped lightly onto the dance floor.

At first, Yuuri was just concentrating on the steps, learning to pay attention to the other couples on the floor, and recognizing when Victor was going to move another direction. He was coaching him as they went, but Yuuri needed very little direction. Soon they were moving together, if not as fluidly as Victor had with Chris, at least as well as any of the other dancers on the floor. Yuuri noticed that Victor had pulled him closer than when they were outside, probably because of the crowd, and he enjoyed the chance to just be with him.

“I feel like we were meant to dance together,” Victor murmured as they glided across the floor. “I should have taught you how to do a turn under my arm, it’s very sweet.”

“Maybe for the next dance,” Yuuri answered with a smile. “I’d also like to learn how to do your part.”

“Of course.” Victor pulled Yuuri closer, and his hand was in the center of his lower back. “When this dance was introduced, it was _scandalous._ Look at how much of our bodies are touching.”

“I like it.”

Victor chuckled. “So do I.” He gave him a quick kiss. “For a slow, romantic waltz, you could even put your head on my shoulder.”

Yuuri pictured that and loved it. “I’d like that, too.” When Victor had suggested that he learn to dance, he’d had no idea how magical it would be. But it was. “I really feel like I’m living in a fairytale now.”

“You _are_ dancing with handsome prince,” Victor joked.

“The handsomest prince,” Yuuri replied with a wink. _Uh oh, I might have had too much champagne._

As the dance drew to a close, Victor pulled Yuuri close and kissed him very sweetly. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too.” He followed Victor as he led him off the floor. “How do you say ‘I love you’ in Russian?”

Victor looked startled and pleased. “Oh, you say it _‘ya tebya lyublyu’_ which is literally ‘I love you’ or you can say _‘ya tebya obozhaiu,’_ which is ‘I adore you.’”

 _“Ya tebya lyublyu,”_ Yuuri tried. “How bad did that sound?”

Victor laughed. “Pretty bad. But you can practice on me any time you want.”

“I can teach you in some of the languages I know if you’d like.”

Yuuri turned and saw that Chris and Tristan had joined them. “How many languages do you know?”

“Five, fluently, and enough Russian to get by in town where no one speaks the common tongue.”

“That’s amazing.”

“That’s just growing up in Schweiz,” Tristan replied. “Groups of people traveling through the mountains over the centuries got trapped by snow and just decided to stay, and now there are four languages spoken commonly. Five if you count the common tongue. And no one really knows how many dialects.”

“Tristan speaks more languages than I do.” 

The tall man shrugged. “It’s what I’m good at, learning languages. The way children are taught languages in school is completely wrong. If I wasn’t taking care of a certain Prince all the time I could probably write textbooks.” He laughed when Chris poked him in the side. “Instead I’m keeping track of his haircuts and feeding his cat.” He evaded when Chris tried to poke him again.

Chris noticed that Victor was turned away talking to someone, and pulled Yuuri closer. “If you really want to let Victor know you love him, call him ‘Vitya.’” He laughed when Yuuri looked suspicious. “I’m not setting you up. In Rus, people often have cutesy forms of their names that only people who love them use. It’s called a diminutive. Victor’s is Vitya.”

“Vitya,” Yuuri practiced softly.

“Perfect. Victor really loves being surprised, and that will delight him.”

The night went on, and Yuuri forgot about the time as they ate dainty snacks and drank champagne and danced together. Victor would have stayed glued to him the entire time if Yuuri hadn’t flat out told him to dance with other people. It was obvious he was bored not dancing and Yuuri shooed him away with the promise that he’d survive five minutes on his own. He noticed right away that he was in the company of _phenomenal_ dancers, and didn’t feel so bad about his own performance, considering how some of the courtiers were plodding around the dance floor like mentally defective cattle.

Sometime _well_ after midnight, Yuuri was talking to Tristan as they both watched their respective idiots dance some energetic romp that looked exhausting after as much champagne as they’d all had. Mila and Yuri had left at least an hour earlier, and the crowd had thinned a bit. “How are they still dancing?”

Tristan chuckled. “They must have been the most hyperactive children in the world. It’s not natural to have that much energy.” He gestured with his champagne glass toward the dancers. “People will probably be here dancing until nearly dawn. Night before last, I dragged Chris to bed around 4:30 after sending someone after Alexei to check on Victor, who was definitely too drunk to be trusted on his own.”

“I’m a night person, but I’m not sure dancing until 4:30 in the morning is my thing.” Yuuri shook his head. “At least not this particular dance.”

“I actually don’t know this dance, and I’m really not sorry about that.”

Yuuri wondered, as he watched the tall man follow Chris with his eyes, if he knew anything about the magic that had brought him and Victor together. “Can I ask you a weird question?”

Tristan smiled. “Of course. I can always choose not to answer.”

“Good point. When I met Chris earlier, he said that he thought when you guys met it was love at first sight?” Yuuri grinned as he watched a blush and soppy smile spread over Tristan’s face. _God, they’re just too cute. Grown-ass, sophisticated men that turn into mush when they think of each other._

“I think so, yes. He smiled at me and I knew I would love him for the rest of my life. Don’t tell him this, but if I’d been capable of speaking, I’d have asked him to marry me on the spot.” 

_Oh my god that’s disgustingly cute. They both thought it._ “Do you have any idea how it works? I love Victor, and I know he loves me, but will the magic that made this happen go away?” _Will he stop loving me?_

“I can only speak from my experience, which is that I love Chris more every day. The first several months after we met, when we were getting to know each other, I felt like I was in love with him and _falling_ in love with him at the same time. If the magic that brought us together has faded, it’s been replaced by genuine emotion. We’ve had ups and downs, but our devotion to each other has never wavered.”

That made Yuuri very, _very_ happy to hear. And hopeful. “Maybe I can be enough for Victor to keep loving me.”

“Oh, Yuuri, don’t say that!” Tristan squeezed his shoulder. “You already _are_ enough. I can promise you that if Victor loves you, it would take something earth-shattering to change his mind. He gives his heart completely. And just to clarify, he obviously loves you.”

Yuuri couldn’t help but believe Tristan’s kind, and reassuring, words. “Thank you.” 

“Speaking of, do you see either of them?”

“No, I lost track of them.”

“In that case, would you like to dance? This is a fast waltz, and it would be a shame to waste it on boyfriends who decided to go get snacks.”

“Oh, okay, if you don’t think they’ll be upset.”

“It will probably make them both _pretend_ to be upset, very comically.” He offered his hand to Yuuri. “I promise that I’m a very good dancer, and won’t let you embarrass yourself.”

It was a completely different experience to dance with someone other than Victor, and it was actually a lot of fun. This waltz didn’t lend itself to deep romance like some of the others he’d danced to, and it was almost more of a dancing lesson. “You’re a better teacher than Victor,” Yuuri laughed.

“I actually taught dancing lessons, if you’d believe it. I took lessons from a young age, but when I got to secondary school, I found out that _none_ of my friends could dance, and took it upon myself to change that.”

“Why couldn’t they dance?” 

“My family had dealings directly with the Crown, even though we’re not titled, so dancing lessons were just a thing it was expected we’d do. None of my friends had spent time at court. Once they could dance, though, we went to evening court all the time.”

“Is it like here, every night?”

Tristan shook his head. “No, usually only two or three nights a week, but the palace is open to anyone who’s been introduced to the court in the evenings, so people with money or ambition congregate in public spaces to see and be seen. Or in our case, drink and flirt.”

Yuuri wondered why someone who took and then taught dance lessons and used to go to the palace just to drink would become a secretary, but decided it wouldn’t be polite to ask. When the dance drew to a close, Tristan bowed to him and winked. “I see their jealous faces over there by the door.” He looped his arm through Yuuri’s as they walked off the floor. “Who will be more dramatic? Yours or mine?”

“Um…Chris will be more dramatic but Victor will pretend to cry?”

“I think you’re right. Victor can _make_ himself cry, don’t let him fool you.”

“That must have been a valuable skill as a kid.”

“I know, right? Try not to laugh at them right away.”

Yuuri concentrated on keeping a straight face as he and Tristan rejoined Victor and Chris. Victor’s big blue eyes looked _devastated_ and Chris looked lost and forlorn. _Drama queens._

“Yuuuriii, why didn’t you wait for me?” Victor was borderline wailing. _Okay, no more champagne for me tonight, even I can tell I’m getting loud._

“Oh, I thought you were busy with Chris. Tristan is a really good dancer.”

“Yuuri is quite the dancer for a newbie,” Tristan complimented. “We’ll have to dance together again.”

“My love, you’d abandon me? For the most romantic of dances?” 

“Well, if you’re going to disappear somewhere with Victor, what else am I to do?” He winked at Yuuri. “Yuuri is a sweetheart, keeping me company when you’re doing who knows what.”

Chris put his hand over his heart. “You wound me, _liebchen._ ”

“Oh stop,” Tristan laughed. “I don’t get jealous when you dance with Victor. And I _know_ what you two have gotten up to before.”

Victor affected a dejected posture. “My checkered past has come back to haunt me.” He lifted his head to show Yuuri his glittering eyes. “I---” He stopped when Yuuri laughed. “What?”

“Tristan told me you could make yourself cry.”

“Victor, your secret weapon has been ruined,” Chris teased.

“Damn it.” Victor stood up straight and his cheerful smile returned. “Sorry I wasn’t back in time to dance with you, _solnyshko._ ”

“It’s alright.” 

“Let’s take a turn in the gardens to sober up and cool off,” Chris suggested. “You’re starting to get loud, Victor.”

The cooler air in the garden was a welcome relief after the heat of the ballroom. Yuuri breathed deeply, the perfume of the night-blooming flowers was amazing…and basically anything was better than the odor of sweaty drunk people, which is what the ballroom was starting to smell like.

“Do you want to sit down for a while? There’s a gazebo hiding behind that hedge that’s usually empty.” Victor pointed to a dark area that was indistinguishable from anything else as far as Yuuri could tell. “It used to be one of my favorite trysting spots.”

“It’s hidden well enough to be a trysting spot during the day,” Chris commented. “Who decided to put it there?”

“It was here before my mom started rearranging things, so I don’t know. Clearly someone who enjoyed having sex outside.”

The gazebo was, indeed, empty, and they settled with happy sighs on the cushioned benches. Yuuri couldn’t help but smile as he watched Tristan pull his feet up on the seat and tug Chris against him. _They love each other so much._ Without stopping to think about it, he cuddled into Victor’s side, and felt a strong arm holding him close and a kiss to his hair. _I wonder if we look like that to them._

“You two are so cute,” Chris chuckled, confirming Yuuri’s suspicions. “It makes me so happy to see you with someone you love, Victor. Of course, only you would have to find a boyfriend in the middle of a frozen lake surrounded by unicorns.”

“We forgot to tell you earlier! This afternoon, I saw two unicorns in the meadow behind the palace.” Yuuri was a little too drunk and too tired to get really upset about it.

“Really? That close to the palace?” Chris looked as concerned as someone who was basically in his boyfriend’s lap could look. 

“It can’t be coincidence,” Tristan commented. “But what do they want? They were guarding Yuuri until Victor woke him with a kiss, shouldn’t they just be done?”

“They’re really dumb…I wonder if they think Victor was the wrong price.”

Yuuri felt panic rise up in his throat. “What?” 

“Don’t worry, you were clearly meant for Victor, the blue roses and need for ice skates proves it.” 

“Why would they want me back, though? Can they put me back to sleep?” 

“I don’t think so, _lyubov moya._ But it doesn’t matter, I’m not letting them take you.”

“It’s not like they have hands, all they can really do with threaten to poke you.” Chris laughed at his own comment. “Can you imagine if they were trying to convince you to come back to the pond? I’m sure their conversational skills would be golden.”

Victor chuckled. “I can just imagine their ‘arguments’ that you should go be put on an altar again. They’d be sooooo logical.”

Yuuri still felt a little panicked, but the lack of concern from the other three calmed him a little. And Victor was rubbing his back very soothingly, and it felt wonderful. He decided to worry tomorrow and snuggled closer, letting his eyes drift closed. 

“Don’t fall asleep, _solnyshko,_ there are too many stairs to my room to carry you again.”

“I wondered how you got me to your room,” he laughed. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Victor was smiling at him. “Am I heavy?”

“Not really.” 

“Don’t let him fool you, Yuuri, he kept stopping on landings to pant, but looking at you like he won a million rubles.”

Yuuri giggled a little. “You’re ridiculous.” He straightened and stretched a bit to kiss him. 

“You two are so sweet.” Yuuri looked and saw that Chris and Tristan were both smiling. Chris sat up. “What do you say to one more dance, then calling it a night?”

“I heard the bells chime 3:00, so that’s probably a good idea.” Victor stood and offered Yuuri his hand. “Don’t let me have more champagne.” 

“Me, either.” Yuuri shook his head. “I want to still remember this in the morning.”

When they made it back to the ballroom, the band was taking a well-deserved break, and the quartet availed themselves of lemonade. The crowd of dancers had shrunk considerably, and a lot of people looked _really_ wasted. It wasn’t pretty.

The next dance they heard was actually a waltz. Yuuri turned to Victor. “Vitya, will you dance with me?”

“Oh, _Yuuri,_ ” he breathed. “Yes, of course, _lyubov moya._ ” Victor felt tears in his eyes. _Chris. Chris must have told him._

It was a slower, deeply romantic waltz, with violin so expressive it was almost as if someone was singing a love song. Victor pulled Yuuri close, and felt Yuuri put his arm around him rather than just resting his hand on his shoulder. He made no effort to move them around the entire room, more interested in looking into those loving brown eyes, and kissing Yuuri’s smiling lips. Yuuri was absolutely the most beautiful man he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. _Stay with me forever, please._

The dance was over too soon, and Victor ended it with wrapping Yuuri in his arms and kissing him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my handsome prince,” Yuuri replied with a smile. “I’ve loved dancing with you all night, but I’m exhausted.”

Victor laughed a little. “So am I. Let’s tell Chris and Tristan goodnight and go to bed.” 

The other couple looked just as tired, but cheerful nonetheless. “I’m going to go ravish this man, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Chris stated matter-of-factly before swinging his laughing boyfriend around and moving toward the doors. Laughing, Victor and Yuuri followed them out of the ballroom.

Victor’s suite was quiet, but soft blue light was coming from his room and the sitting room. “Mage lights. If no one is going to be here, we can’t leave candles burning.”

“That sounds fascinating. I’m sure I’ll be interested in them tomorrow.”

Victor led Yuuri to the bedroom door. “I know you slept with me last night, Yuuri, but you don’t have to tonight if you don’t want to. I know we’ve both been drinking, and I don’t want you to regret anything.”

Yuuri contemplated that for a few moments. “What if I won’t regret anything?” He put his hands on Victor’s chest and slowly stroked up to put his arms around his neck. “What if I want you to kiss me?”

“Are you sure? I’m not going to lie, I’d really like to do more than kiss you.” _In my bed, naked._

“I don’t know a lot about what ‘more’ could be, but I don’t think I’d regret it.” _God, how could I, he’s gorgeous and I’m in love with him._

Victor groaned, and could feel himself getting hard. “Promise me that you’ll stop me if you’re not ready for something.” He was holding Yuuri so tightly that he knew he could feel his arousal.

“I promise. Please kiss me.”

It was not one of the sweet kisses they’d shared all night, it was a deep, seductive kiss that made Yuuri moan. Victor pulled him closer, ran his hands down his back to slide them over his ass, and pulled their hips tight together so Yuuri could feel just how much he wanted him. To his surprised pleasure, Yuuri was just as hard. He pulled back from his beguiling mouth to kiss down his neck, drawing more soft moans from the other man’s throat. He felt Yuuri rocking against him and bit down on the curve of his shoulder.

“Victor,” Yuuri breathed out. “Can we get out of the doorway? It’s guaranteed that Alexei will walk in if we’re in the hall.”

“You’re so right.” He pulled Yuuri into his room and shut the door. Cool air was coming in from the open windows, and it felt divine on his flushed cheeks. He pushed Yuuri against the door, and kissed him again, deep and wanting, and felt Yuuri clutching the back of his waistcoat. _Too many clothes._

 _But Yuuri’s probably never been naked with someone before._ “Can I take off your vest? Unbutton your shirt?” _Gods please say yes._

In response, Yuuri nodded with a breathless, “Yes. Can I take off yours, too?”

“Gods, yes. Please do.” He quickly worked the buttons on Yuuri’s waistcoat, and pushed it over his shoulders. The damp silk of the white shirt clung to his chest, and it was fucking sexy. Victor kissed the hollow of his throat, and carefully unfastened the shirt, then tugged it out of his trousers. “You’re gorgeous.” He immediately started a string of kisses down Yuuri’s sternum. “I want to touch you.”

“Oh, please, yes.” He gasped when Victor’s warm fingers touched his nipples then tenderly stroked down to his waist. Yuuri took the opportunity to open Victor’s waistcoat and push it over his shoulders, then start on his shirt. “You have to stop touching me if I’m going to get your shirt off.” 

“Unacceptable,” Victor complained, sucking a kiss onto Yuuri’s collar bone.

Yuuri giggled. “I really want to touch you.”

Okay, that was fucking hot. Victor pulled away, and quickly pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the floor. “Touch me, please.” He moaned at the hesitant touch to his skin, and he took Yuuri’s hands to press more firmly against his chest. “I’m yours, Yuuri, you don’t have to worry about doing something I don’t like.”

“Alright,” he whispered, and began exploring. “You’re so beautiful, Victor.” Without even thinking about it, he kissed Victor’s neck, and down onto his chest. “I don’t know what I’m doing, tell me if there’s something you like, you might have to show me.”

“You’re doing fine, holy fuck.” When Yuuri very delicately licked his right nipple, he had to brace himself with his hands on the door. “Fuck, yes, I love that.” _Who knew there was a seductive beast inside that demure young man?_

Yuuri shrugged his shirt off of his shoulders and put his arms around Victor’s waist. “Would it be possible to not stand against the door?”

Victor laughed and pulled away. “Yes, yes it would. Would you be comfortable in bed? If not--”

“Yes. Bed is good.”

“Wonderful.” Victor swept Yuuri up in his arms, and deposited him on the bed. “Let me take off your shoes.”

Yuuri laughed as he bounced a little. “My feet have gotten so much attention today.”

“You do have very nice feet,” Victor replied, and kissed the top of his currently bare right foot.

After removing Yuuri’s other shoe, Victor sat on the bed to remove his own before stretching out beside him. “I can’t tell you how much I want you,” he whispered. “But I’m not going to take advantage of you.”

Yuuri cupped his cheek. “I trust you.” He leaned forward and kissed him.

Victor tried to go slowly, tried to keep the kiss seductive, but at some point it flashed over to passionate and wanting. Their hands were all over each other, and Victor took a chance, and tipped Yuuri over onto his back, half laying on top of him so that he could run his hands down his stomach. He pulled back from their kiss to ask the question with his eyes, _‘is this okay’_ before touching below his waist.

“Touch me,” Yuuri whispered. He covered Victor’s hesitant hand with his own, and pushed downward. He was feeling very bold, and very horny, and really didn’t care if he seemed demanding.

Well aware that Yuuri had probably never experienced anything like this, Victor kissed him tenderly before stroking his hand over Yuuri’s hard cock. Unsurprisingly, his hips jerked up, and he moaned into the kiss. “I can stop if you want,” he teased.

“Shut up,” Yuuri laughed breathlessly. “Please don’t.”

“It feels better without pants,” Victor whispered. He saw the nervousness in Yuuri’s expression. “We don’t have to.”

“Please do,” Yuuri whispered. He really, _really_ wanted to feel Victor’s hands on his skin. “You too. I want to touch you.”

Victor had to mentally count to 10 to avoid his brain melting from the thought of Yuuri’s hand on his cock. “If you don’t like this, if you want to stop, I will, just tell me. No judgement.” He carefully unfastened Yuuri’s trousers. “Lift your hips.” When Yuuri moved, he slowly slid his trousers and underwear down, and pulled them off. “You’re so beautiful.” He kissed Yuuri with all of his love and desire, hoping he wouldn’t feel too awkward. His first time had certainly been comical.

Yuuri could feel himself blushing. “I love you,” he whispered. He was still self-conscious, but the look Victor was giving him made him feel special, and wanted, and a little bit beautiful. “I want to see you, too, but I can’t get to your pants.”

Victor chuckled softly, and moved a little to lie on his side. “Here.” He took Yuuri’s hand and guided it to his fly. He was actually a little tickled that Yuuri wanted to undress him. 

Nervous, and sure he was going to mess something up, Yuuri unfastened Victor’s trousers, and slid his hand inside, over his hip. “I’m not sure how you’re going to get them off in that position.”

Laughing again, Victor rolled onto his back, lifted his hips, and removed his pants, kicking them somewhere off the bed. He turned back to Yuuri. “Can I touch you?”

“Yes,” Yuuri breathed out. Victor kissed him, and he closed his eyes. The first gentle stroke of Victor’s hand made him gasp and moan. “Oh god.”

“It gets better.” Victor kissed down his throat as he stroked him slowly, not too tight, not too fast, he didn’t this to be over too quickly. “Turn on your side a little, you can touch me.” _Pleasepleasepleaseplease touch me._

Yuuri pulled back from their kiss to look at what he was doing. He thought he’d be more nervous, but the idea the Victor _wanted_ him to touch him was enough to make him just a little eager. He wanted to give Victor the same pleasure he was receiving. He ran his hand down Victor’s firm stomach and gently took his cock in his hand. It was definitely different to touch someone else, but Victor gasped his name and buried his face in his shoulder when he did, and it was wonderful. He slowly stroked, thinking about what he liked, and wondering if Victor would enjoy the same things. He kissed Victor’s shoulder. “Vitya, what do you like?”

He whimpered. “What you’re doing is driving me crazy.” He lifted his head to seal his mouth over Yuuri’s, and guided his hand to move just a little more, with a little more grip. “Like that.” He moved to take Yuuri back in hand. “Tell me what you like.”

“Tease me,” he whispered, embarrassed, but that’s what he liked, to draw it out. 

“Hang on.” Victor pulled away and rolled over to search for something in his nightstand. “Here.” He had a small glass vial. “Oil, it makes it so much better.” He removed the stopper and poured some into his hand. “Here, hold out your hand.” He drizzled it onto Yuuri’s palm and put the bottle back. “Touch me.”

Feeling Victor’s slick hand on his cock was indescribable. “ _Yes_ , oh god, _Victor,_ ” Yuuri moaned. He panted for a minute before wrapping his own hand around Victor. He could grip tighter, and there was no friction. “Tell me if you want me to do something different.”

“No, you’re good, fuck,” he gasped out before kissing him again. Victor had always maintained a strict ‘no virgins’ policy when taking lovers, so this experience, coaching Yuuri through their first time together, was new and wonderful. _We only get one first time, I want it to be good for him._ And Yuuri was learning what he liked really fucking fast, and he was already on the edge. “Yuuri, I’m so close,” he moaned softly.

Yuuri’s confidence soared right at that moment. “I want to watch you come,” he whispered, not _really_ sure where that had come from but god, he really wanted to see Victor’s face. “You’re so gorgeous, Victor.”

“Just a little, like that, oh _fuck--_ ” And that was it. Victor had already stopped stroking Yuuri as he’d gotten close to coming, and was now just clutching his arm as he groaned through one of the best orgasms of his life. “Yuuri, dearest gods.”

 _I did that,_ Yuuri thought. _I made Victor come._ “I love you, Vitya, you’re so beautiful.”

“I love you, too,” Victor gasped, and pulled him down because he needed to be kissing Yuuri _now._ He’d never felt like this after sex, and he knew it was because he was in love with Yuuri. He pulled back, breathless. “I love you so much.” He pulled Yuuri into his arms and just held him for a while. “I haven’t forgotten about you, I just need this.”

Yuuri just held him tight, ignoring how hard he was. _I love him, so much. I’ll always take care of him. He’s my handsome prince._

Victor pulled back a little and kissed Yuuri passionately. “Your turn,” he murmured, and gently pushed him over onto his back. “You like to be teased?”

“Well, with myself, yes,” Yuuri answered, embarrassed. 

Victor smiled. “Let’s see how long you last.” He wrapped his hand around Yuuri’s cock, and lowered his head to kiss him. He pulled away to kiss down his neck and chest, all the while stroking slowly and gently. He ran the flat of his tongue lightly over Yuuri’s nipple, and felt him jump. “Good or not good?”

“Good,” Yuuri managed to pant out. Being teased by Victor was so much better than he could have imagined.

He licked and sucked at Yuuri’s nipples, listening to him moan. When he slowly closed his teeth around one, though, Yuuri called out and slid his fingers into his hair, gripping. “Yes, oh god, _Victor--”_

“Mmm, you like that?” Victor asked unnecessarily. “How about the other one?” He repeated the gentle abuse, and could feel Yuuri bucking up into his hand. “Close?”

“Oh god--”

Victor kissed his way back up Yuuri’s neck, and captured his lips. _It’s time to push him over the edge._ He tightened his fingers around Yuuri’s length and stroked faster, mostly stimulating the head to bring him off.

When Yuuri came, he couldn’t even make a sound he was so far gone. Victor kept stroking him through it, watching for signs that he was getting too sensitive, and kissed his sweaty forehead. “You’re so fucking gorgeous, Yuuri.” He gathered him into his arms. “I love you so much, you beautiful man.”

“Victor,” Yuuri whimpered out, and lifted his face from where it was pressed against Victor’s chest. “Oh my god. I love you.” He reached for a kiss, and Victor immediately met him halfway. He pulled back, panting, and pressed his face against Victor’s shoulder. He could feel him rubbing his back. He laughed a little, nervous. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now.”

“What feels right, that’s all. For me, it’s snuggling.” Victor swept his fingers through Yuuri’s hair. “I’m content to just hold you, _lyubov moya.”_

Yuuri nodded. “That’s what I want.” He felt so, so good. As his heart rate slowed, he started to feel sleepy. He yawned.

“I’m sleepy too, but we have to clean up or we’ll be glued to each other,” Victor murmured. “I’ll be right back.”

Yuuri sort of drifted in sleepy bliss for a while until Victor came back with a warm cloth. “Oh, clean up, right. We’re gross.” 

Victor laughed, and began tenderly wiping the evidence of their passion from Yuuri’s skin. “The only downside of sex, really.” He reached for Yuuri’s hands, and cleaned them too, before taking care of himself. “Let’s actually get _under_ the covers.”

“Oh god, did we ruin your pretty blanket?”

“It’s seen worse. That’s what magic is for.” Victor helped Yuuri off the bed and pulled down the sheets. “Climb in. Wait, do you want pajamas?”

Yuuri thought about it. “Is that okay?”

“Of course, silly. Let me get you some.” Victor rifled through the drawers of his dresser. “It’s pretty warm, I’m just going to put on undies. Would shorts and a loose shirt work?”

“That’s fine,” Yuuri answered. “I don’t want you to think I don’t want to be, you know, like,--”

Victor walked over and kissed him. “My feelings are not hurt that you don’t like to sleep naked.”

Yuuri sighed in relief. “Oh good.”

They quickly dressed, and Victor closed the lamp that was giving off the soft blue light, augmenting the beautiful moonlight pouring in the windows. Yuuri cuddled into the obscenely soft pillows and ridiculously smooth sheets, and watched happily as Victor crawled onto the bed with him.

“I like that smile,” Victor whispered, kissing it quickly.

“It’s just for you.” 

“Your post-sex-Victor-only smile?”

“Did that count as sex?”

“Absolutely.” Victor pulled Yuuri against him, and sighed when he pillowed his head on his chest.

“Do you think it’s enough to make the unicorns leave me alone?”

Victor laughed softly. “Probably not.”

“Damn it,” Yuuri laughed before it turned into an enormous yawn. “Love you.”

“Love you too, _solnyshko.”_

Victor was awake for a few minutes after he felt Yuuri drop off. He really hoped Yuuri wouldn’t regret this in the morning. If he did, Victor would hate himself forever. _I love him so much, if I hurt him because I’m a selfish, horny asshole, I’ll never forgive myself._ He couldn’t hold onto the thoughts for long, though, before sleep claimed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm sure you've noticed, but this story is extremely anachronistic. The waltz joined high society in the 1780s and was considered lewd and scandalous so of course everyone loved it, but this is kind of a medieval setting? The first partner dances were documented in the late 1500s, and there are other 'gliding' partner dances around besides the usual ballroom dances we see in the modern day. I really feel like a tango needs to happen after Yuuri's performance at the banquet.
> 
> I realized when I was writing this that I've never actually written a first time before. I had to dredge up my memories of how incredibly awkward and nervous I was being naked with someone for the first time! I imagined it might be easier for two guys because they actually know what to do with a penis, whereas I did not lol. 
> 
> If you haven't heard, Denis Ten, the skater that inspired Otabek's character, passed away after being attacked in Astana, KZ. I'm going to include some of his costumes as my tiny tribute to his memory. If you follow me on instagram, I posted a little Beka chibi. It's not great, but it's the thought that counts, right? It's not often you hear about a figure skater being murdered, it was really shocking to everyone in the skating community (including all of us to got into the sport because of YOI). Otabek will be joining the cast of the fic soon so I'll be sure he pays respect to Denis's memory.
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter. Thanks for all of your support, guys!


	8. In which Victor and Yuuri look to the stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted! I'm a teacher, and we went back to school, and it's the craziest beginning of the year EVER. This chapter is long, I couldn't find a good way to split it up.

Yuuri reluctantly opened his eyes, not sure why he was awake in the first place, and tried to figure out what he was seeing. It was clearly really early in the morning, there was just the faintest hint of light coming in, and most of it was blocked by Victor.

Oh. He was looking at Victor’s back.

At some point in his sleep, Victor had turned on his other side, and he’d cuddled up against him, and put an arm around his waist. It felt nice, and Yuuri sort of sleepily smiled and thought about how cute Victor was. He was such a silly person, but also so sweet, and clearly intelligent. And a good dancer.

Oh. Dancing with Victor. That had been really wonderful. Victor’s strong arms around him as they glided around the room. God they’d been up late, and when they’d finally gone to bed—

Oh holy fuck, he’d had sex with Victor.

The memories flooded his mind’s eye, and he was relieved enough that he could remember everything (almost everything) that at first he wasn’t embarrassed or anxious. Of course, that wore off, and he started examining everything they’d done to see if he’d been an awkward dork. Victor had seemed to really enjoy himself, so maybe he _didn’t_ fuck up too badly? And god, Victor’s hands on his body, Victor’s mouth on his skin, and oh god he was getting hard just thinking about it. 

“Victor,” he whispered unintentionally, trying _not_ to press his erection against the other man’s ridiculously pert ass and failing. _God what does he do to have such a fucking fantastic ass?_

Yuuri realized he’d woken Victor up when he intentionally pressed that firm ass against him and let out a very suggestive-sounding “Mm.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Yuuri apologized.

Victor chuckled. “I’m glad you did.” 

Yuuri kissed his back. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”

In response, Victor carefully rolled over and claimed Yuuri’s mouth. “Fuck no.”

Unable to help himself (he could blame in on lack of sleep, right?) he let his hand slide down Victor’s side and over that amazing ass. “God you’re gorgeous.”

“Mm, you too.” He kissed him again, deeper this time, with intent. Victor rocked his hips against Yuuri’s.

Breaking off the kiss with a gasp, Yuuri breathed out Victor’s name, and moved against him, suddenly desperate for friction. He gripped his ass and pressed them together more firmly. 

“Yuuri,” Victor ground out before pushing him over onto his back and climbing over him. He was fucking thrilled when Yuuri automatically spread his legs so he could settle between them, and smiled when he moaned. “Do you like me on top of you?” It was a legitimate question, some people didn’t like being on bottom.

“Yes,” Yuuri moaned. “Victor, oh my god.” He was gripping Victor’s upper arms and moving against him. “Fuck.”

“I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but I’ll take care of you,” he murmured, and began moving. He’d had sex like this the-gods-knew-how-many times, with and without clothes, and was pretty sure he was going to come before he could even ask Yuuri if he wanted to get undressed. Yuuri’s aroused cries and frantic movements were intoxicating. The fact that he was gripping his ass to hold him down was pretty fucking hot, too. “I’m close,” he panted out.

“Me, too. Please, please don’t stop.”

“Fuck, Yuuri, _yes--”_

“Victor, oh god, I’m so close--”

Victor kissed Yuuri like his life depended on it. “Come for me,” he murmured in his ear.

That was enough. Yuuri promptly lost touch with reality. When he was ready to reacquaint himself with consciousness, Victor was still on top of him, panting, and he decided he could probably relax his death grip on his butt. The prince’s face was pressed into his neck, and he turned his head a little to kiss his cheek as he wrapped his arms around him, and started rubbing his back. “Love you.”

Victor’s brain was trying to process the fact that he’d just had sex with Yuuri _again,_ and that Yuuri didn’t seem to be upset in the least. _Oh gods, please let him not have regrets._

“Love you too.” He lifted his head and moved just enough to kiss him. “What a nice way to wake up.”

Yuuri giggled. “I really didn’t intend for that to happen. I don’t even know what woke me up.”

“Is it…okay that it happened? And last night?”

The look of concern on Victor’s face was absolutely unacceptable and needed to be gone. “Very okay.” He lifted his head enough to kiss Victor. “Were you afraid I’d be upset?”

“Well, we’d been drinking, and we all make decisions drunk that we regret later.”

Yuuri laughed softly. “It’s actually good that we’d been drinking, because otherwise I would have been so nervous and awkward that I might have cried.” He shook his head. “And I started it this morning.”

Relief flooded Victor like a damn bursting to wash away his guilt. “Oh thank all the gods. I was so afraid you’d wake up and feel like I’d taken advantage of you.”

“I distinctly remember telling you I trusted you.” He tugged on Victor’s shoulders so he’d lie back down.

“I know, but you’re young, and innocent, and--”

“I’m 23.”

“Oh, you remember?”

Yuuri nodded. “Absolutely old enough to decide if I want to have sex with a man that I’m in love with.”

Victor was quiet for a few moments. “I love you, Yuuri, thank you for trusting me.”

“I love you, too, Vitya.” He yawned. “Can we go back to sleep?”

“I can hear Makka whining from the other room, I have to take him out.”

“Back to sleep after that?”

With a little chuckle, Victor kissed him and answered, “Yes.” He carefully untangled himself from Yuuri. “Here, take off your clothes.”

Yuuri gave him a sleepy laugh. “So seductive, you must get all the boys that way.”

Victor burst out laughing. “What if I say ‘please’ does that make it more alluring?”

Laughing, Yuuri sat up and pulled off his shirt, then flopped down. “I’m too tired to take off my pants.”

“Here, lift your hips,” Victor instructed, then pulled them off. He used Yuuri’s discarded shirt to clean them both off. “I’ll be right back.”

Yuuri stirred from a light sleep when he crawled back into bed with him 15 minutes later. Normally he didn’t go back to bed after getting up, but he was wiped out, they’d only been asleep about two hours. “Is it okay for Makka to get in bed with us?”

“Mhm, course.” He sighed happily when he was cuddled up against Victor’s chest again. 

They merrily passed the fuck out.

***

The sun was high in the sky when Victor finally pried his eyes open. Makka had left the bed for the cool tiles on the hearth at some point, and Yuuri was still sound asleep, though he’d turned over on his other side and was faced away from Victor. _Wow. It’s been a long time since I danced all night, had sex, slept two hours, had more sex, and went back to bed._ He didn’t even think about it before snuggling up to Yuuri’s back and kissing the back of his neck. 

“Victor?”

He smiled at the sleepy mumble. “Good morning again, _solnyshko.”_

Less-than-coordinated with sleepiness, Yuuri turned over so that he could cuddle into Victor’s chest. “Morning.”

“You’re so adorable when you’re sleepy.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

Yuuri pulled away from Victor’s embrace to stretch, then smiled into his sky blue eyes. “Lucky for you I’m sleepy a lot.”

Victor laughed softly. “Do you want to get up and have breakfast? It might be lunch by now.”

“Huh-uh.” He pushed Victor onto his back and plopped himself on top of him. “In a minute.”

Unable to resist an opportunity like this one, Victor slid his hands down Yuuri’s warm back to cup his firm butt. “Mm, you have a really nice ass.”

“It’s kind of round.”

“In the best way possible.” To prove it, he squeezed it. 

“Oh, I’m glad it’s okay. Is the rest of me okay?”

“Yuuri, all of you is gorgeous.”

Yuuri could feel himself blushing. “Oh, thank you. You’re so beautiful, I feel like that’s even more of a compliment.”

Victor lifted his head from the pillow to kiss Yuuri’s smiling lips. “Not a compliment, the truth.”

“You’re silly. I was thinking earlier that you’re just such a dork. I love you so much.”

“I’m glad that you love me despite being a dork. I’m a dork that needs to get out of bed, though. Do you want to do anything special this morning?”

“Actually, can we take a bath?” _I think I can smell myself._

“Together?”

“Is that weird here?”

“No,” Victor replied, searching Yuuri’s eyes. “It’s just very intimate, and not something most people do.”

Disappointed, Yuuri replied, “Oh. Well, we don’t have to take a bath together.”

“No, no, I want to! I was just surprised that you asked. Did you remember something?”

Yuuri pondered that for a moment. “Not so much remembered as I just feel like it’s something I’ve always known? I don’t have any pictures or memories of taking baths with anyone, but it’s just in there that shared bathing is normal. Different from here, but not _totally_ different.”

“Interesting. Well you can rest assured that I _adore_ sharing a bath. And my tub is almost big enough for three people, so we’ll be comfortable.”

Relieved and excited, Yuuri removed himself from Victor and climbed out of bed. “I don’t know what I’m going to wear after the bath, though, Alexei didn’t give me any clothes for today, and they’d be in the other room anyway.”

“Something tells me that when we get done with our bath, fresh, clean clothes will be waiting for us on a fresh, clean duvet which will be covering fresh, clean sheets.”

“Oh, right, servants.”

“Specifically, Alexei, who is amazing.” Victor opened the door that connected his room to the bathroom. “He anticipates what I need almost flawlessly. I honestly think it’s a gift.” He started the water in the tub and dumped in a handful of bath salts. “No one in the world could possibly have a valet that’s as great as Alexei.”

After taking turns in the loo, they both watched the tub fill, mesmerized for a little while, not talking. The scent reminded Yuuri of the night-blooming flowers in the garden mixed with the minerals you smelled near the sea. “The water smells really nice.”

“I like scented bath water. I also have a few scents of bubble bath.” Victor turned off the tap and climbed in, then held out a hand to Yuuri. 

Careful to avoid falling, or stepping on any random Victor parts, Yuuri settled into the hot water, seated between Victor’s legs with this back to his chest. He sighed. Not only did he enjoy soaking in hot water, he was relieved that he would be able to wash the lingering traces of their intimate activities off of his body. “I like being clean.”

“Me too. I’m rather fastidious.”

They soaked in comfortable silence for a long while before Victor asked, “ _Lyubov moya,_ will you wash my hair for me? I’ll do yours.”

“Sure.” He carefully turned around as Victor pulled a glass bottle from the shelf above the tub. He looked at it curiously.

“Shampoo. Wait, what did you wash your hair with yesterday?”

“Soap?”

“Oh no, _solnyshko,_ regular soap is far too harsh for your hair, it will dry out and you’ll have breakage and split ends. Wash with gentle shampoo, use a moisturizing rinse, comb through light oils from time to time to maintain a good texture, and—you’re looking at me like I’m insane.”

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at the discomfited look on Victor’s face. “Now I know why your hair is so pretty. I don’t know why I’m surprised that you have special soap for your hair, you have five different scents of soap. Where do you get shampoo?”

“From an herbalist who specializes in essential oils and—stop laughing at me!”

“Oh, Vitya, I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you,” Yuuri apologized, still laughing. “You’re just the cutest thing. I don’t know if we have different soap for your hair in my homeland, but I don’t think so.” He held out his hand for the bottle. “Here, let me wash your hair. I’m guessing it’s a liquid since it’s in a bottle?”

Somewhat mollified, Victor passed Yuuri the blue bottle. “It’s a thick liquid. It lathers quickly.”

“Dunk your head under the water.” He did so, and pushed his hair back from his face. “Scoot closer.” Yuuri wondered what some endearments were in this language. He didn’t think endearments were a thing in his own language, but Victor was clearly calling him sweet things, and he wanted to return the favor. He poured a little of the shampoo into his palm, then set the bottle aside and reached for Victor’s silver head. “Duck down a little?”

Victor tried to hold onto his slight irritation with Yuuri (really, hair maintenance was important) but lost the ability to care as his gentle fingers began massaging his head. Goosebumps broke out all over his body and he moaned. He heard Yuuri chuckle. “I love having my hair washed.”

“I can tell.” He lightly dragged his nails along Victor’s scalp, and felt him shiver. “Victor, the names you call me, what do they mean?”

“Oh, _lyubov moya_ is ‘my love’ and _solnyshko_ is ‘little sun,’ which is an especially sweet thing to say to a man you love.”

“Oh, thank you. I don’t think we have anything similar in my language. What are some sweet things to say in this language?”

“It depends on where you’re from, and most people use endearments in their native tongue. You’ll hear Chris call Tristan _liebchen_ which means ‘little love’ in Deutsch, and is used like ‘darling,’ which Chris also uses. Tristan calls Chris ‘dearest’ a lot and it’s disgustingly cute because that’s so old-fashioned. Here, let me rinse my hair.” Victor submerged himself and swished his hair around to get rid of the shampoo. “One of the other languages spoken in Schweiz sounds very romantic, and I speak it mostly fluently, but not many people here do. I’ve been known to use Francais endearments with lovers, like _mon beau_ for ‘my beauty’ or _mon cheri_ for ‘darling’.” He reached to the shelf that had the shampoo and pulled down another bottle. “This is a conditioning rinse, let me put it in my hair, then I’ll wash yours.”

“Alright.” _I don’t think I can bring myself to call Victor ‘darling’ in any language. It’s…not me._ “What else?”

Victor took a moment to work the cream into his hair. “Let me think, I’m so used to Russian endearments that I forget the ones I’ve heard in the common tongue. Darling, dearest, sweetie, sweetheart, dear heart, baby maybe? Honey, that’s one. Here, get your hair wet, oh, love, you can just use love, Chris does that, but with everyone he likes, not just Tristan.”

Yuuri dropped down under the water long enough to saturate his hair, then resurfaced. “Would you like me to call you any of those things?” 

“If it feels natural to use one, then sure. If not, it doesn’t bother me. That you call me Vitya is enough. Bring your head over here.” Victor poured a little shampoo into his hand and smoothed it into his dark hair. “In Rus most people use diminutives, too, like ‘Vitya.’”

He was unable to respond for a moment from the unbelievable pleasure that having his hair washed was causing. “So other people have cute names?” _Oh god, this is almost better than sex._

“Mhm. We call Yuri ‘Yura’ most of the time, Mila’s is Francais, though, we call her ‘Mimi.’ My mother’s name was Vasilysa, and hers was ‘Vasya.’”

“They all end with ‘ah.’”

“That’s true, isn’t it? A common one for Alexander is ‘Sasha’ and for Marina is ‘Masha’. I also have to admit that in my dark past I was called Princess Vicky.”

Yuuri burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. How old were you?”

“I was 10, and Chris’s nanny kept calling me that until she was retired when he turned 13. Let’s rinse your hair.” He waited while Yuuri was underwater to continue. “If you’re ever feeling extremely silly, my name can also be ‘Vitenka.’”

“That’s cute, I like it. Are you going to put the moisturizing stuff in my hair?”

“I should, then you can feel how much softer your hair can be.”

“Alright.” He patiently held still while Victor worked the cream into the strands of his hair. “It smells nice.”

“Your hair will be so silky after this.” Victor was smiling a little happy smile that Yuuri thought was really cute. “You have very thick hair.”

Yuuri just enjoyed Victor’s fingers against his scalp for a moment, humming in response. Victor was such a tactile person, and he enjoyed that. Victor’s casual touches and loving nicknames made him feel so special, and so loved…he’d even go so far as to say ‘treasured.’ Victor chuckling brought him out of his thoughts. “Sorry, that feels really good.”

“I know. I need to rinse my hair, just a sec.” Victor ducked under the water. “Sometimes I ask Alexei to help me rinse it, because that’s the most annoying part of the process, rinsing the conditioner out. When my hair was long, he helped me a lot.” He reached around on the shelf by the tub and pulled out a small ceramic pitcher. “I can help you rinse yours. Go under for a bit first.”

Yuuri stayed under the water for a long moment, enjoying the sensation and the quiet that only existed under water. _I wonder if Victor can swim? And if there’s anywhere he goes swimming if he does? Wow, did I just remember I can swim?_ He agitated his hair to get most of the creamy stuff out of it before he came back up. “Victor, can you swim?”

Victor stopped midway to Yuuri’s head with the picture full of water. “Yes…why? Don’t you dare try to dunk me under the water, we’ll make a mess and housekeeping will murder us both.”

He laughed. “No, I just remembered that I like to swim, and wondered if you did, too.”

“Oh!” Victor poured the water slowly over Yuuri’s head. “Yes, I love swimming, there’s a beautiful clear lake about an hour’s ride from here that I visit a lot in the summer.” He poured more water over Yuuri’s head, gently stroking through the dark strands. “After we teach you to ride, we can go any time you want. It takes about two weeks of being in the saddle every day to get used to it.”

“I’ll try my best.” He slicked his hair back from his face. “My hair feels clean.”

“Good.” He pulled the sandalwood soap and a soft cloth from where they were sitting. “I’ll wash you, if you’d like.”

“Oh, thank you. I’ll return the favor.”

After they were both clean, Victor settled back against the tub and pulled Yuuri close. “This has been lovely. I’m so glad you wanted to share a bath.”

“Mhm.” Yuuri was feeling extremely relaxed. “We can’t stay in too much longer, or I’ll fall asleep again.”

Victor chuckled. “I’m pretty hungry.”

“Me too.”

“We need to find out what time it is, I know my tailor is coming for you this afternoon.”

“And you wanted fried pies.”

Laughing, Victor kissed the top of Yuuri’s head. “Definitely. I’m sure there will be food ready for us when we’re dressed.”

“Convenient. Now that we’ve started talking about food, I’m _really_ hungry.”

“Okay, let’s get out.”

Victor had been right, clothes were waiting for them in the cleaned bedroom when they went in. A white shirt and soft brown trousers were waiting for Yuuri. “The fabric is so soft, I’ve never felt cotton this nice.” _But hey, now I remember touching cotton._

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? And all of the washings over the years have only made it softer. The trousers are linen, so they’ll be nice and light when it’s warm this afternoon.”

Victor’s own clothes were very similar, but a cream shirt and blue trousers. Yuuri located his glasses on Victor’s bedside table (he had no idea when they came off of his face the night before). They walked barefoot into the sitting room, and found that Alexei was setting a breakfast tray on the table. 

“Good morning, you two. You must have had quite the night, I’ve heard about it several times this morning. And sleeping til almost 11:00?” He shook his head, an exaggerated look of exasperation on his face. “I can’t believe it.”

Yuuri could feel himself blushing, and his anxiety went into overdrive. “What? People are talking about me?” 

Seeing that panic was on the way, Victor gently wrapped his arms around his beloved from behind. “Shh, don’t worry, it’s okay,” he soothed. “Any time I do _anything,_ there’s gossip about it. I sneezed at dinner once, and there was a rumor that I was dying of consumption the next morning.” He squeezed Yuuri. “I’m sure there’s nothing crazy.” He looked over Yuuri’s shoulder at Alexei. “What’s the buzz?”

“Nothing bad, Yuuri, it’s okay! Just that everyone is talking about the handsome young man that Victor was dancing with, who no one knows, and is clearly from outside the kingdom. There’s been some very cute commentary on Victor never looking so happy before, and a few girls are reporting jealousy among courtiers because Victor usually dances with them. Anka says that her mistress is decidedly offended that Victor would shower so much attention on a _foreigner.”_

“Oh.” Yuuri calmed considerably. “That’s not as bad as I thought.”

“There will always be negative comments about your appearance,” Victor warned. “Don’t ever listen to them.”

“I won’t share them unless they’re funny. But no one said anything about how you looked other than ‘handsome’ and ‘foreign’. Victor, hate to say it, but your waistcoat was entirely the wrong color with your shirt.”

He laughed, kissed Yuuri behind the ear, and released him to sit down. “I’ve worn that outfit dozens of times, and this is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“As if I’d pick out a shirt and waistcoat that didn’t harmonize.” Alexei looked haughty. “I’m an expert, thank you.”

Yuuri laughed nervously and sat next to Victor. “I’m a little self-conscious.” _Understatement of the century._

“You’ll learn to ignore it, _solnyshko.”_ Victor put eggs and toast on a plate for Yuuri. “Courtiers are petty, bored, and mean. A lot of people really feel that the only way to be superior is to crush the souls of others. Don’t let them hurt you.”

He shook his head. “I’ll try.” He looked at the eggs for a moment. “These are different.”

Alexei laughed. “Scrambled with a little cheese and spring onions today. They’re good, I had some earlier. I also brought up this new jam we just got.” He picked up the little dish. “Orange and elderflower. I liked it so much I decided to inflict it on you both.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely.” Victor spread butter and a little of the jam on his toast. “Very nice.”

Yuuri had to agree that it was good, very light and sweet. It was a relief to eat something after as hungry as he’d been when they were getting dressed. The bells struck noon while they were finishing.

“I don’t think I’ve slept this late in 10 years,” Victor announced with a great deal of amusement. “Chris is going to make the lewdest comments about why we needed rest.”

That was cringe-worthy. “Should I prepare to be embarrassed?”

“Yes.” Alexei laughed at the look on Yuuri’s face. “Until you’re so numb to sexual innuendo that it doesn’t affect you anymore, Chris will probably embarrass you. I’ve known him since he was 10, so he has no power over me.”

As if the thought had summoned him, sort of, there was a knock at the door and Alexei went to answer it. He came back with a note in the shape of the paper bird, but folded from regular paper. Victor laughed as he took it from his amused valet.

“I guess since I have the magic bird, Chris had to send a non-magic bird.” He unfolded the message.

_Dear Victor,_

_I can only imagine what is keeping you in bed this late. I’m dying to hear all about it, of course. Let me know when you wake up, unless you need to discuss things with Yuuri at length._

_Hugs and kisses,  
Chris_

_PS, Bring chocolate._

Victor laughed at the horrible sexual pun. “Here, Yuuri, do you want to see if you can read in the common tongue?” He handed the note to Yuuri.

He took it, worried about what he’d see. “No, I can’t read it.” He was deeply disappointed. “Your letters don’t make any sense.”

“Damn. This isn’t even my native alphabet.” Victor took the note back. “Chris was suggesting we’re discussing things ‘at length.’”

Yuuri shook his head, that didn’t mean anything to him. 

“It’s a pun, ‘length’ is a euphemism for--”

“I get it,” Yuuri interrupted, mortified and amused at the same time. “That’s terrible.”

“It really is,” Alexei laughed. “Much less intimate and amusing, the tailor is coming for you at 2:00, Yuuri.”

“Oh, we have two hours,” Victor replied, relieved. “We should go see Chris.”

“Uh, do we really _want_ to see Chris?”

Victor burst out laughing. “He won’t tease you too much.” His eyes were sparkling. “He’s probably been at court this morning and heard more gossip about us, I’m dying to hear it.”

Yuuri shook his head. “I think our ideas of fun might be slightly different. Alright.”

“He asked me to bring chocolate, and I’m betting you’ve never had it before. There’s no way to _not_ like chocolate.”

“There’s not,” Alexei agreed.

“Okay.” He stood when Victor did. 

“I hide chocolate in my desk where it stays cool and doesn’t melt.” He went into the office and returned with foil-wrapped objects, one of which he handed to Alexei. “Some of the best chocolate from Schweiz you can get. Let’s go upstairs.”

Chris’s suite was one floor above Victor’s, and a brisk breeze was flowing through the corridors. It felt good after the relative warmth of the sunshine if Victor’s sitting room. “Do you usually go to see Chris barefoot?”

“Only when I’m taking the risk that no one will see me,” Victor answered with a smile in his voice. 

The door to Chris’s suite was cracked, probably so that air could move through the rooms. Victor tapped then went in, calling his friend’s name.

“In the sitting room.”

Victor and Yuuri followed the disembodied voice. Yuuri noticed that Chris’s suite was essentially the same at Victor’s, but smaller, and with a large sitting room instead of the space being divided into an office. He assumed the little room the door opened into was for greeting guests. Chris was lounging on the sofa with his feet in Tristan’s lap. Like the night before, Yuuri noted that Tristan had his legs curled under him. _I sit on the floor a lot, and on my knees, so that seems normal,_ Yuuri spontaneously remembered. 

“Hmm, good afternoon sleepy-heads,” Chris purred, amusement clear in his tone. “Must have been all that exercise last night wearing you out.”

Yuuri blushed. Victor laughed. “Dancing is hard work.” 

“You danced less than usual,” Chris countered.

“We were up late?” Yuuri offered.

“Hmm, Yuuri, not used to working up a sweat late at night?” Chris winked at him and Tristan slapped his leg.

“Leave him alone.”

Victor noticed that Yuuri looked so uncomfortable he was afraid he might cry and pulled him close. “Stop, stop, that’s enough.”

Chris promptly swung his feet off the couch and got up. “I’m sorry, love.” He rubbed Yuuri’s arm and kissed his cheek. “I shouldn’t tease you.” 

Victor offered the chocolate to his bestie. “Chocolate offerings to beg you not ask for details?”

He dramatically (and comically) rolled his eyes. “Fine. But _only_ because you brought chocolate.” He knew Victor would give him details when they were alone anyway.

Yuuri’s introduction to chocolate was unnecessarily dramatic. He watched the other men peel back the foil to expose the dark brown treat, and he followed their example. “Is it sweet?”

“Decadently rich and sweet.” Chris made an uncomfortably orgasmic face when he bit into his chocolate bar. “The best thing my kingdom produces, seriously.”

“It’s divine,” Tristan concurred.

“Try it,” Victor urged. “It’s so good.”

Curious and a little concerned, Yuuri nibbled at the corner of his bar.

Okay, maybe not _completely_ unnecessarily dramatic. It was amazing. “Oh my god.”

“I know,” Victor agreed. “I stockpile it in the winter so I can have it all year.”

“I can see why.” He tried to eat slowly, but it was _really_ delicious. “This cannot be good for me.”

“It’s not. That’s why we eat it in small quantities.” 

“Victor, at audiences, did you approve a traveling knight named Emil Nekola?”

Victor tapped his finger against his chin as he thought about it. “Blonde? Scruffy beard?”

Chris nodded. “I met him this morning. He’s been traveling with the Crispinos this year, and says they’ll be here in a day or two. They stopped in a little village to deal with a vengeful spirit, and he came on to the capital since they didn’t need backup.”

“Oh, that’s good, we can ask Sara about the spell on you, Yuuri.”

“You’ll like Emil, guys, he’s hilarious and has more energy than is natural. It’s also pretty clear that he has a huge crush on Michele. He calls him ‘Mickey’ the same way Sara does.”

“That’s cute.” Victor was smiling around his chocolate. “He needs someone to make him lighten up.”

“That’s for sure.” Chris gestured to Yuuri with his chocolate. “Michele is intense. Sara is a ray of sunshine. She and Mila are close friends.”

“I think they’d be more than friends if Sara didn’t travel all the time and Mila wasn’t commitment-phobic.” Victor shook his head. “I think my aunt and uncle are going to let Mila inherit since her brothers are dumbasses, maybe when Sara gets tired of roaming the world she can settle there.”

“Matchmaking is tempting, but dangerous,” Chris cautioned.

“Or it can be amazingly successful,” Tristan argued. He had the fondest smile on his face.

Chris actually blushed. “Or that.”

Yuuri kind of had to agree with literally everyone he’d talked to that Chris and Tristan were gross with how sweet they were with each other. _Victor treats me like I’m a priceless jewel, and we’re not nearly that gross. I hope._

“You guys could stop,” Victor teased.

“Never.” Chris was still a little blushy. “I also talked to no less than 15 people who wanted to know about your mysterious beau. I didn’t share anything, and pretended I was hurt that you hadn’t told me anything.”

“Considering that _I_ don’t know anything about me, there’s no way you could,” Yuuri commented.

“That is true.”

“Oh! But I remembered that I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor in my home. You sitting on your feet, Tristan, reminded me.”

“Yeah, my bad habit helped someone!” he laughed.

“I also saw Phichit this morning,” Chris continued. “He asked about _my_ mysterious dance partner, and wants to draw us together.” He was looking at Tristan again.

“JUST STOP,” Victor laughed.

“I like Phichit,” Yuuri commented, hoping to distract them from being quite so sugary. “He’s funny. He told me more about the fairytales you all know when we hung out yesterday.” 

“He is funny. And so talented. I can’t wait to see what he does with the drawing he did of you, _solnyshko.”_

“I _also_ heard all about the unicorns in the meadow behind the palace. Now there are little girls all over the castle wanting to go look for them.”

“Why can’t they leave me alone?” Yuuri complained. 

“I didn’t realize they were this persistent, dumb things usually lose interest in tasks a lot faster than this.”

“It’s only been a couple days,” Tristan pointed out. “Maybe they’re not bored yet.”

“Just be safe, we’ll practice riding without going into the forest. There are other riding paths to the east of the palace that are specifically for exercising horses. I’ll check with Alexei but I don’t think audiences are scheduled for tomorrow, and we can go riding. I know we won’t be done with the tailor in time to go riding before dinner.”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Yuuri had to ask, “Victor, why is dinner so bad, when all of the other food I’ve had has been so good?”

All three men laughed. “Because my father is an asshole. He’s ridiculing the courtiers that flock to be in his presence by serving them food that is appalling. He figures that if they’re dumb enough to eat that food, they’re idiots that aren’t worth his time. My father and the men that sit at the high table with him have a private real dinner after everyone is dismissed.”

“Wow.” 

“Yah, it’s a real dick move.” Chris laughed a little. “But it’s a double edged sword, if you don’t go to dinner with court, you’re insulting him and all of the other courtiers, and taking yourself out of everyone’s good graces.”

“So glad I’m a servant.”

The talked for a while more about the quirks of the Russian court, and compared it against the less rigid court in Schweiz. That led Victor and Chris into a discussion of their youthful indiscretions during winter vacations, and the amazing experience of drinking hot cocoa as the sun rose over the snowy landscape outside of Chris’s private chalet. Yuuri was happy to learn that he remembered snow, even if he didn’t remember if there were activities like the others were describing during the winter in his homeland. And he couldn’t help but smile as the other three spoke enthusiastically about ice skating. _It must be a lot of fun._

Eventually, Victor and Yuuri had to leave to meet the tailor and they said their goodbyes. Chris gave Yuuri a hug and apologized for embarrassing him. “But it’s bound to happen again, you’ll get used to it,” he teased with a wink.

Victor’s tailor was a petite and enthusiastic man with hair that was a completely impossible color of ice blue at matched his eyes. _It really is a thing here,_ Yuuri thought with a lot of amusement. He had Yuuri take off his clothes which was extremely embarrassing, but he said it was purely so he could get accurate measurements, and he did it in Victor’s room with no one watching. He measured _everything_ Yuuri could imagine, from the length and circumference of his fingers to the distance between his ankle bone and the top of his foot. He commented briefly on the good definition in his thighs and calves, and that he would need to take that into consideration when cutting his trousers. He asked after what types of shoes he’d requested from the cobbler and said he’d order some to match his outfits once they picked out fabrics.

And oh god, the fabrics.

Redressed, Yuuri joined Victor and the tailor (his name was Armand) to look at samples of silks, velvets, cottons, linens, wools, furs, knits of various yarns, knits of fine cotton yarn that was almost just thread, blends of silk with cotton and wool, and some mysterious fabric that Victor commented was only possible through magic. And the _colors._ Yuuri knew, somehow, that his people were masters of dyes, but some of these colors made his eyes want to bleed. Thankfully, none of those looked good with his skin. He vetoed Victor’s choices of various pinks and thankfully Armand agreed, although his belief that purple was far more attractive wasn’t much better. He was drawn to the beautiful dark green that Victor had worn the day before, shades of blue and grey, and a rich, deep wine color that actually made Armand gasp at the contrast with his dark hair and golden skin. Both Victor and Armand demanded that he get things in black, since the contrast with his skin was, apparently, devastating, and some deep browns that Victor called ‘cinnamon’ and said matched his eyes. 

Then came the trims.

Dear god.

Most of them Yuuri outright refused, nothing with actual or fake diamonds was going to be on his clothes. Or god, tassels. Fringes. Little puffy balls dangling on ribbons. He was pretty sure Victor and Armand were doing it just to annoy him.

Victor was laughing as Yuuri glared at band of deep orange silk embroidered with stylized rabbits. “Don’t worry, Yuuri, your clothes can be plain for every day, I’m not going to torture you. But for your formal wear, you do need some sparkle. The blue outfit you were wearing had lots of sparkles.”

“I still don’t know where that came from.”

Armand raised an eyebrow, but didn’t push for information. He smiled at the uncomfortable look on Yuuri’s face. “Don’t worry, I won’t put you in something hideous, or too ostentatious. You’re not a showy person, but I can tell you try to avoid standing out. That’s just not acceptable for someone so attractive who is in a relationship with a prince. Your formal clothes will need some detail and sparkle, so you don’t look like a sparrow next to your peacock boyfriend.”

“Alright.” He didn’t want to embarrass Victor. 

“One thing, though, if it’s okay,” Victor asked. “Would you be willing to wear a traditional Russian outfit sometime?”

“What do they look like?”

Armand was already digging through his cases of fabric. “Here are some embroidered trims I use for traditional clothes,” he offered. 

“I’ll go pull out one of my outfits.” Victor hurried into his bedroom, and came back with a beautifully embroidered shirt and vest, and flowing trousers. “We use a lot of different colors in embroidery, you can pick colors you like.”

Yuuri took the soft shirt from Victor, gently running his thumb over the embroidery of stylized flowers and geometric shapes in red and blue. “This is beautiful, of course I’ll wear it, Vitya.”

Victor looked like he’d been given the answer to all of life’s mysteries. “Thank you, _solnyshko.”_

“I don’t remember what my clothes look like, but if I ever get to take you to my homeland, I hope you can wear traditional clothes of my people.”

“Of course.” 

Yuuri chose a trim that was burgundy and dark blue, and after a great deal of convincing, agreed to red boots.

“It will take longer to make this, since I’ll have to send it out for embroidery,” Armand cautioned. “I’ll do a summer and winter outfit for you.”

As Armand was packing his things to head out, Yuuri had the most horrible thought.

How much was all of this costing Victor? 

He was a prince, of course, but that didn’t mean he had unlimited money. No one had unlimited money. He wished he could just keep wearing Victor’s old clothes to avoid spending money that wasn’t his own. After Armand left (with the help of Alexei, who magically appeared just when he was needed), Yuuri turned to Victor, and he knew he looked worried and anxious and embarrassed all at the same time from Victor’s response of pulling him close and wrapping his arms around him.

“What’s wrong, _lyubov moya?”_

“Victor, I don’t, I can’t, I--”

“Wear nice things? Of course you can.”

“It’s not that,” Yuuri hurried to correct. “It’s the cost.” He looked down at his feet, ashamed. “I don’t have anything to offer you.”

“Oh.” 

At Victor’s surprised tone, Yuuri looked back up. “Victor, I--”

He blocked the words with a finger on his lips. “Stop right there. I want to do this for you. You can’t just wear my clothes from when I was 20, you deserve your own clothes. When we go to your home, you can outfit me, and we’ll be even. And what you have to offer me, Yuuri, is your love, and that’s all I want.”

“Oh no, I’m going to cry,” Yuuri choked out and pulled his glasses off to press his face to Victor’s shoulder. “How do you say such sweet things?”

“It just comes naturally, because I adore you.” He rubbed Yuuri’s back. 

“I hope, if I remember everything, that you can still adore who I am.”

“There’s no way I could _not_ adore you, Yuuri. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too.” _But what if I’m a terrible person and I just don’t remember? What if Victor hates me?_

“Stop worrying, everything will be alright,” he soothed. “We’ll figure everything out. I won’t stop loving you, Yuuri.” _Please don’t stop loving me._ He wouldn’t survive it.

Alexei cleared his throat from the doorway, just like he had the night before. “I have peach tea and fried pies.”

Yuuri pulled away from Victor, and gratefully accepted his hanky. “I’m going to get so fat living here.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of exercise,” Alexei assured him, amazingly without any innuendo. “Dancing and riding are always happening if you’re with Victor. You’ll probably need proper dancing lessons.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Yuuri sat with Victor on the sofa. “Being in a palace involves a lot of skills I don’t have.”

Victor squeezed his knee. “I can teach you to dance, you don’t have to take lessons.”

“Tristan said he used to teach dance lessons.”

Victor looked like he’d been poked in the side with a sharp stick. “Why didn’t I know that? Is he a better teacher than I am?”

Alexei laughed. “Probably.”

“Just different,” Yuuri answered, patting Victor’s knee. “He’s less, um, distracted by me?”

“Oh, that makes sense. I still want to teach you.” 

Yuuri smiled at Victor’s obvious jealousy but hid it with sipping his tea. “Alright.”

The fried pies were still warm, and even better than they had been the day before. Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh at the faces Victor was making, when he was really happy and smiled, his mouth almost made a heart. It was just ridiculous. “I’m glad you enjoy food as much as I do.”

“I’m careful with my weight, but life isn’t worth living if you don’t treat yourself sometimes.” He offered a piece of crust to Makkachin, who was giving him the most loving and adoring puppy eyes possible in hopes of more treats. “Makka has to watch his weight, too, he’s getting on in years.”

Alexei excused himself to answer the door, and returned with several packages. “Your shoes have arrived, Yuuri. Do you want to see?”

“Alright.” He was kind of nervous about what they’d look like. 

Victor took one of the packages from Alexei and opened it. “Oh, these are dancing shoes! We’ll break them in in the next week or so, then they won’t hurt your feet at the ball.” He held out the slim, elegant black leather shoes, and turned them over. “See how the soles are suede? It’s so you don’t make noise when you’re taking steps. They leather is very thin so you can feel what you’re doing. Ladies slippers are usually silk, but sometimes leather as well.”

Alexei was opening another package. “Ah, casual shoes. These will be comfortable, I like the colors he went with.” They were a combination of light brown canvas and darker brown leather. “Most of your temporary trousers are blue and brown, so these will be perfect.”

The third box was formal shoes, very similar to his own, but somehow more elegant. “The toe is narrower,” Victor pointed out. “And the leather has more of a shine to it. The leather quality seems a bit higher, too.”

“Are you insulting shoes that I woke up with in the middle of a frozen pond?” Yuuri winked to show Victor he was kidding. “These shoes somehow seem less boring than mine, even though they’re almost the same.”

“I hemmed some black trousers for you tonight, Yuuri, and fixed the sleeves on a light blue shirt if those are okay. You’ll have your pick of waistcoats, Victor has a lot of blue in his wardrobe.”

“Oh, of course, that’s fine.” He finished his tea. “Will dinner be as bad as last night?”

Victor laughed. “There’s no way it can be as bad as it was last night. That was epically bad. It’s never been that bad before.”

“I have a secret about dinner last night I just have to share,” Alexei laughed. “Cook ordered really good beef for dinner, cut out the toughest, grossest parts, and served those. The staff had _amazing_ steaks for dinner.”

“I’m so jealous!” Victor laughed. “Tristan’s going to regret coming to court instead of having late dinner with the staff.”

“Chris and Tristan were up in time to have actual lunch, and they got grilled quail and rare steaks with these divine potatoes that Rosalia just learned how to make.”

“Is that what you had for lunch?” Victor cocked an eyebrow at his valet.

“Of course not,” he replied, but didn’t look terribly honest. 

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because I can’t eat a grilled quail _and_ an entire steak.”

Victor just rolled his eyes. “We should get dressed, Yuuri.”

“Wash the sugar and oil off your hands before you change,” Alexei admonished.

“Oh, good idea,” Yuuri replied, and headed to the bathroom.

Hands washed, Yuuri went to his room to look at his clothes. The shirt was a very soft, thin cotton in a pale sky blue, and the trousers weren’t nearly as snug as the ones he’d worn the night before. His new shoes definitely fit better than the ones he’d woken up in, these were fitted to his feet _exactly._ There were four different vests on the bed for him to choose from. He opted for a one that was just dark and darker blue stripes, with black buttons. It had a trim of shinier dark blue silk, but was over-all very understated. 

Dressed, he wandered back out into the sitting room to find it empty (even Makkachin was gone). Instead of sitting down, he went to one of the windows and looked out. He was on the third story, and could see a fountain surrounded by pink, blue, and purple flowers below the window, green lawns, and little trees that had been trimmed with bare trunks and perfect spheres of leaves at the top. It was very organized beauty, and Yuuri found himself preferring the fanciful gardens near the ballroom and the shady quiet of the apple orchard over this little park. It was very quiet, though. The only sounds were birds singing and the fountain bubbling. He sensed Victor walking up behind him, so didn’t jump when he put his arms around his waist and kissed his neck. 

“This is a memorial garden for my mother,” he explained softly. “I asked for it, but my father commissioned it. She would have hated it.”

“I can see why.”

“Oh?”

Yuuri turned a little so he could look at Victor. “She strikes me as a passionate and creative person. This garden is pretty, but there’s nothing passionate or creative about it.”

“You’re absolutely right. She would have wanted a garden with a rainbow of different flowers, over-grown trees, and places for children to play. She would have wanted a pond instead of a fountain so that the dogs could go swimming and ducks would come in the summer. She would have had bird feeders and bird baths and plants that attract butterflies. There’s a stone with her name inscribed on it set into the patio around the fountain, but that’s the only indication that it’s for her.”

“When you’re king, you can change it,” Yuuri suggested.

Victor gave him a startled smile. “You’re right, I can. I hadn’t thought of that.”

Turning completely in Victor’s arms, Yuuri pressed his lips to Victor’s. “Until then, you could just let Makkachin swim in the fountain.”

Laughing, Victor pulled away. “That would be a lovely picture.”

“You could have Phichit draw it for you.”

“Even better.”

“Maybe that can be your birthday present from me. A painting of Makkachin ruining the garden.”

“I would love that.”

Like he had the night before, Alexei gave them both hugs and comforting words before they went to dinner. Yuuri was glad that Victor had had Alexei for emotional support as he’d grown up, since his father was clearly a giant asshole. He could only imagine how much worse dinner must have been once his mother wasn’t there as a buffer between Victor and his father anymore. From what Yuuri could see, it was clear that Victor wanted to please people, and _loved_ to surprise people. He wanted approval, and was kind, sweet, and funny as a way of earning that approval. That his father refused to acknowledge him must really hurt.

“Alexei didn’t know what the entertainment was for tonight. Hopefully it’s something that doesn’t require a lot of attention.”

“What would actually require attention?”

“I have to look like I’m paying attention to be respectful for at least part of the night if it’s a singer or something,” Victor explained. “We had a singer the other day, though, so I don’t think that will be it. If there are chairs set up, that’s an indication that we’re going to be bored.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Yuri didn’t join them for dinner, and Victor was concerned. “I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t be here, he’s really good about not pissing my dad off. Yuri is my heir, so he’s supposed to act responsible.”

“He got a terrible sunburn,” Mila explained as she walked in before kissing both Victor and Yuuri on the cheek. “He went up to the top of the small tower and fell asleep. He’s under the care of a healer.”

“That’s terrible,” Yuuri replied, concerned. “He has such fair skin.”

“Having had many horrible sunburns, I feel his pain.” Victor shook his head. “Luckily, there are plenty of treatments that can help him, and he’ll feel better tomorrow. In the meantime, he gets to have a night off from the frivolity.” 

“And the food.” Mila sat next to Yuuri. “He’s a total pain in the ass when he’s hurt. I’m glad I don’t share a suite with him.”

“He’s going to be super ticked off that his freckles will show. He gets these cute little freckles on his nose after he gets sun. He hates them. When he was little, every woman in the palace stopped to tell him how cute he was.”

“He seems to hate everything.”

“He really does,” Mila agreed. “But I know he actually does like his cat and his horse.”

“He loves ice skating,” Victor explained. “I asked him to come to Schweiz with me this winter so that he can skate as much as he wants. His mother expects him to do things with his days besides skate and play with Potya.” 

Chris sauntered in a few moments later, and greeted them all with cheek kisses. “No Yura tonight?”

“He got a bad sunburn.” Victor shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m jealous of a sunburn.”

Just as he had the night before, the king entered with a fanfare of trumpets dressed all in black with gold embroidery. He was so cold, and Yuuri had to wonder what it was about Victor’s mother that he’d loved. She seemed to be his polar opposite. Victor looked extremely uncomfortable, and he put his hand on his thigh and squeezed. Victor covered his hand with his own.

The soup course was a cold soup again, this one bright red with beet juice, but not a lot of beet flavor. “This is a sad version of a traditional Russian soup that’s actually good. We get this a lot in the summer.”

The salad course was sort of planty substance but also a little foamy. “I have no idea what this is,” Mila murmured to him. “I’m scared to eat it.”

“Me too.” Yuuri and Mila both watched Victor take a tiny bite. “Well?”

“It’s gooseberries, mint, and dissolved marshmallows. It’s not bad. Not really a salad, but not bad.”

Yuuri had to disagree with Victor. “This is disgusting.”

Mila agreed with Yuuri. “Gross.” She looked away when Chris said something. “Chris says this is the worst salad he’s ever seen and he’s not touching it.”

The poultry course was actually food. Yuuri was shocked. “Is this just chicken?” Very small chicken.

Victor cut into it, sniffed it, and cautiously put it in his mouth. “It’s pretty good. Just ordinary chicken breast with lemon and garlic. Bland but not offensive.”

Yuuri was happy to eat the small, bland chicken, it felt so weird to sit through a meal and not eat any of it. And it was a huge waste of food.

The beef course was thin slices of steak on top of some kind of wilted leaves with a questionable sauce. Mila had seen it before. 

“This should actually be fairly edible, that’s clearly spinach.” She tried it. “Weird, but not bad.”

Yuuri agreed with her assessment. It was definitely weird, the sauce was berry-based and strange with the strongly seasoned leaves and over-cooked beef. But it wasn’t terrible. He managed four bites.

Dessert, shockingly, was actually good.

“I don’t know what this is,” Victor murmured to him. “It looks like a cake but also not like a cake?” 

“It’s like a cake but inside a glass,” Mila commented. “This is a mint leaf on the top.”

Yuuri looked at it curiously. “I suppose you eat it with a spoon?” He picked up the tiny spoon.

The four of them met each other’s eyes before tasting the mysterious substance.

“It’s cake with condensed milk,” Chris explained. “It’s odd that they flavored it with mint instead of fruit, but it’s good.”

“It is good,” Victor agreed. “Imagine this with chocolate.”

“I’ve had this with chocolate,” Chris replied. “It’s amazing.”

They’d been enjoying themselves enough that the sudden silence that fell when the King stood took them by surprise. Yuuri saw that Victor looked stricken—he always prepared for this ahead of time, and had been caught off guard. He squeezed his thigh and saw him relax just a bit. _He needs me,_ Yuuri realized. Even with friends, servants, and cousins, Victor felt alone. _Not anymore. I will always be here for him._

_I hope._

The silence seemed to drag on forever. Victor was clutching Yuuri’s hand where it rested on his leg under the table. The courtiers were clearly getting nervous, there were restless noises coming from the crowd. Yuuri just kept looking straight ahead, even though he was dying to turn to see what the King was actually _doing._ Finally, after at least three minutes, he spoke.

“It is a wise man who recalls that duty comes before all else. A man who seeks transient pleasures when there is work to be done will never be fulfilled. A wise man remembers that love is a fleeting illusion. It is through sacrifice that a man earns his worth.”

The silence remained long after the king had left the room. The courtiers were quiet as they slowly filtered out. Victor was frozen, shaking, unable to move. Ignoring the fucking court etiquette Victor had told him about, Yuuri stood up and wrapped his arms around him. He wasn’t surprised when he felt Mila and Chris join him, surrounding Victor with support. 

“I love you,” he whispered in Victor’s ear. “I’ll always love you.” 

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Victor,” he heard Chris murmur. 

“You’re a good person, Vitya, the best,” Mila told him. 

Yuuri felt the moment he collapsed, and the tears started. He looked at Chris, who looked just as upset. _Chris loves Victor as much as I do._ “What should we do?”

“I’ll pull myself together,” Victor answered. 

The heartbreak in Victor’s voice was infuriating to Yuuri. _No one should feel like this because of their father._ “Do you want to go back upstairs?”

Victor shook his head. “I have to go to evening court. Do my duty.”

“Oh, Victor,” Chris answered, sounding as devastated as Yuuri felt. “No, you don’t have to go, he’s an asshole, none of that was true, love.”

“I do have to go, or he’ll be right, and I don’t want him to be right.”

Yuuri could definitely understand that logic. “After you put in an appearance, we could go in the garden,” he suggested.

Nodding, Victor wiped his nose with his napkin. “Okay.” He forced himself to calm down. _I didn’t know I had any more heart left for him to break._ “Hand me your water glass?”

Curious, Yuuri handed his mostly-full glass to Victor (who had drained his). He watched as Victor dipped his napkin in the cool water then pressed it against his eyes and cheeks, trying to make his face less puffy and blotchy. “Is there any way for me to help?”

Victor shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, everyone knew that speech would make me cry.” He looked up into Yuuri’s concerned eyes and tried to smile. “Don’t worry, _solnyshko,_ I’ll be fine.”

Impulsively, Yuuri ducked down and kissed Victor’s cheek. “I love you, Vitya.”

“I love you too. Thank you, Yuuri.” Victor stood from his chair and looked at his trio of supporters. “You guys are the best. Let’s go see what amusement we have to suffer through.”

People made an effort to ignore them as they made their way down the hall to the ballroom. No one wanted to acknowledge Victor’s embarrassing show of emotion, and those that might want to comfort him wouldn’t want word of that to get back to the King. To Victor’s _intense_ relief, the ballroom was set up with three carpeted platforms around the perimeter of the space, and buffet tables were all along the back wall. 

“Oh good, this is an easy entertainment to escape early.” 

“What is it?” Yuuri was looking around the room, confused.

Chris answered. “Each dais will have different type of performer. Probably jugglers, contortionists, acrobats, and dancers in rotation. It’s intended that we just stroll around and mingle.”

“And eat,” Mila added. 

“This will be a really nice spread,” Victor confirmed. “When they have the buffet out like this, there’s _really_ good food. Not like the light snacks for between dances.” He was starting to feel a little more cheerful with spice cake in his sights.

“The downside of this is that some of the courtiers will talk your ear off.” Chris steered them toward the waiting champagne. “When dancing is going on, most men are with their wives. When these events are happening, it’s a good time to subtly show off your mistress.”

“Or boy toy,” Victor added. “Plenty of men _and_ women have pretty boys to display.”

“Won’t their spouses notice?”

“It’s all about getting lost in the crowd, meaningful glances, exchanging flowers, and sneaking into the gardens. Not to mention, a lot of the spouses know about the paramours and have really amusing, dramatic rivalries.”

Yuuri watched with interest as a group of brightly-costumed men and women took to the nearest stage carrying various items. They were very…naked. Just barely dressed.

“Acrobats,” Victor explained. “They juggle different things and do gymnastic tricks. I’ve seen this troupe before, they’re really good.” He sipped his champagne, relieved that alcohol would numb pain of his father’s words in short order.

Chris groaned. “Cold shrimp sandwiches and smoked salmon with dill.” He ignored everyone’s laughter. “Shut up. So good.”

“I won’t judge you if you don’t judge me for the spice cake.”

“I’ll judge you both,” Mila sassed. 

“Cold shrimp sounds good, but I don’t know if I’ve had smoked salmon. I have had salmon.”

Chris grabbed his hand and dragged him down the length of the nearest table. “You have to try it now.” 

After eating actually _good_ food and drinking champagne, they all slowly drifted to the gardens, trying to make it look like they weren’t completely bailing on court. They were, in fact, completely bailing on court.

The gardens were cool and the sky was a hundred colors from the sunset. They idled through the rose garden, waiting for Tristan to join them, then tried to make it seem like they were just socializing rather than sneaking around the hedges to the hidden gazebo where they could talk and Victor could just exist without the pressure to _be_ something or _do_ something that would make him a good son and heir. Yuuri was amused to see that, when not being observed, Mila did _not_ sit like a lady. She kicked her dainty slippers off, hiked her skirts up over her knees, and sat cross-legged on the cushioned bench. 

“I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Victor mused, sad. “I do everything I’m told, but it’s not enough. I’ve never _not_ done my duty. I just don’t act like a dick all the time while I do it.”

“I can tell you a couple things he doesn’t like about you that are completely unfair,” Tristan offered.

“Hit me.”

“The way you dress is one.”

“I try _really_ hard to be stylish but not flamboyant. How is that not good enough?”

Chris looked confused. “Victor dresses really nicely. He wears what everyone is wearing, but prettier.”

“You dress to look attractive. And you succeed, don’t worry! But your father strikes me as the type who sees that as frivolous and effeminate.”

“I knew he hated my long hair.” Victor shook his head. “I didn’t realize my whole wardrobe was damning me. What else?”

“Your behavior draws people to you, rather than putting them at arm’s length.”

“That’s bad?”

“It’s not,” Yuuri defended.

“No, it’s not, but to your father, it’s more evidence of you being ‘soft.’ He makes sure that everyone fears and respects him. People love and respect you. That difference bothers him.”

“But, why?”

“Probably because he wishes someone loved him,” Mila quipped.

“I think you’re right,” Tristan agreed. “You also make an effort to enjoy what you’re doing, or at least appear to enjoy it. That’s what makes you likeable.”

“I’m 27, and I have no idea what my father enjoys.” Victor shook his head. “When I was learning to ride, he would go out with me, and I thought that meant he enjoyed riding. I used to ask him if he’d like to go, to at least exercise his horse, but he always said no. The grooms say he hasn’t ridden his horse outside of a parade for 7 years.”

This time, Tristan asked a question. “Victor, have you ever practiced sword work with your father?”

“Yes, actually, when I was little and then up until I was about 14. He was impossible to please and pushed me as hard as my teacher did.”

“What happened when you were 14?”

“I don’t know.”

“I do,” Chris interjected. “Yakov had just taught you that crazy move, to feint left, drop and roll, and come up inside the opponent’s guard. You were so freaking fast that you scored a kill on your father in less than a minute. I was there, and the entire group of guards that was working out applauded. Yakov _hugged_ you.”

“Well, there you have it,” Tristan concluded. “You are gay, beautiful, stylish, and approachable, yet still manage to have the respect of the people and be more of a man than he is.”

“Oh.”

“It probably doesn’t help that you look just like your mother.” Yuuri squeezed Victor’s leg. “From everything I’ve heard, and what I’ve pieced together, he lost her long before she died. You remind him of everything he wanted and drove away by being a cold, demanding sack of shit.”

“The worst thing about this, love, is that you have absolutely no way to win.” Chris looked so sad and kind that Yuuri was surprised that Victor didn’t start crying again. “You really are doing everything right.”

“Can I offer some advice?” Mila asked.

“Of course.”

“Your father isn’t in danger of dropping dead any time soon, but start cultivating people that can replace his advisors _now._ None of those men will respect you, and will deliberately undermine your authority. They’ll belittle you and taunt you and say awful things about you behind your back because they know you’ll respond emotionally and they think that’s weak. Find out what each one of them does and start making relationships with people at court that can do the same things, so you can fire them while you’re standing over your father’s corpse.”

Victor pondered that for a moment. “That’s a good idea. My father doesn’t think I take my duties as the Heir seriously, but I do. This is a good plan.”

“Alexei should be able to help with this,” Mila explained. “He’s going to know, through his connections, which courtiers actually support you and which ones are fake. And the ones that will only support you because they hate your father. Those aren’t especially useful.”

Victor looked noticeably brighter. _Having a plan must make him feel better._ “Don’t change, though,” Yuuri borderline begged. “You’re so wonderful as you are, don’t let him make you hard and cold like he is.”

Victor smiled and kissed Yuuri’s forehead. “Don’t worry, _solnyshko,_ I don’t think I could change even if I wanted to.”

Mila, Chris, and Tristan exchanged glances that translated to ‘that’s so gross but Victor loves it so don’t make fun of them.’ 

They stayed outside for over an hour, just talking about meaningless things, when Yuuri asked if they could go back in, if for no other reason than more to drink. “It doesn’t even have to be champagne, I’m just thirsty.”

“I could stand to eat more cake, if I had to,” Victor joked.

In the ballroom, they were essentially ignored, as everyone was busy with their own conversations, drinks, and snacks. Yuuri stopped by the stage hosting two young women whose feet were over their shoulders on the floor in front of them. “Okay, so these are contortionists, very interesting.”

Victor laughed. “Chris aspires to be that flexible.”

“Not anymore, I’m not single.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes, sure he was blushing. _Everything is sexual with him._ He had to admit it was a little funny, even if it made him kind of uncomfortable.

Tristan was nearly as enthusiastic about the smoked salmon as Chris had been. He helped himself to triangles of dark bread, topped with a spread of some kind, the fillets of bright orange fish, and sprigs of dill. “It’s not like this is even a rare food to have in Schweitz. It’s just so good that it inspires excitement.”

Despite the rocky start to the evening, they were all enjoying the performers, food, and drinks. Several courtiers asked Victor to introduce them to Yuuri, and he simply stated, “This is Yuuri, my dear friend. I’m so happy to have him here.” After the first one, Victor explained that he couldn’t say they were in a relationship quite yet. “Not right after that charming speech about love from my father. Everyone will _know,_ but I can’t make it official just yet. Especially since I’ve never had a boyfriend before, and it will be explosively interesting to everyone with nothing to do, which is most of the court.”

It wasn’t much past 11:00 when they all snuck out of the room. “That was actually fairly successful,” Victor commented, pleased. “We stayed a very respectable amount of time, and no one else made me cry on purpose.”

“And you got to eat _how_ much cake?”

“Shut up, Chris.” He laughed when the blond prince kissed his cheek. “Go spend time together.” He shooed Chris and Tristan away.

“ _You_ go spend time together,” Chris laughed, making the same shooing motion at Victor and Yuuri.

“Do you have to be so aggressively couply?” Mila teased. “It’s exhausting.”

“Hush.” Victor hugged her. “Thanks for being so sweet.”

“Hush yourself, it’s nothing.”

Victor’s suite was empty when they returned, but candles were lit in the sitting room, so Alexei had clearly been there seconds before. Having slept so late, neither of them was especially sleepy, so they changed into lounging clothes and cuddled up on the sofa with Makkachin. Victor sighed contentedly as he stroked his fingers through Yuuri’s hair. 

“That feels nice, but doesn’t my hair feel gross from the pomade?”

Victor chuckled softly. “It’s fine.”

Yuuri laughed a little. “You’re ridiculous. I was thinking earlier that you treat me like a priceless treasure. I’m not sure I deserve that quite that much attention.”

“Of course you do.” He kissed the top of Yuuri’s head. “I love you, and the more I get to know you, the more I want to love you.”

“But you don’t know anything about me. I don’t know anything about me.”

“Sit up so I can look at you.”

Yuuri levered himself up, and settled opposite Victor, but still close, their knees were touching. “What?”

Victor put his finger under Yuuri’s chin to make sure their eyes were locked. “You, my dear Yuuri, are kind, considerate, sweet, and perceptive. You care deeply for me, and for the people I love, even though you just met us all. You’re funny when you let yourself relax, you’re passionate, and you’re very intelligent. You’re self-conscious and feel like you’re not beautiful, and I hope I can change that. You worry, and you have so many reasons to be anxious that I don’t blame you, but I hope I can ease some of that, too. You somehow manage to be innocent and _not_ innocent at the same time, I don’t know how, but it’s unbelievably sexy. You think you don’t deserve the love of a prince who doesn’t even know you, but you’re wrong. I’m only the Prince on the throne. The rest of the time I’m a lonely man who feels so grateful for the chance to kiss you awake that I don’t actually know what to do with myself.”

Yuuri just stared into Victor’s eyes, his own wide with surprise behind his glasses. “You…see all of that in me?”

“All of it. And I can feel how much you love me, and it means the world to me. I’m not a perfect person, I’m self-centered, vain, forgetful, self-indulgent, and I’m prone to periods of melancholy that make me a chore to be around. When I’m annoyed I am a cold, short-tempered bitch. Even when I’m not annoyed, I still say mean things in a sweet tone of voice just to make people feel bad, even people I love who don’t deserve it. I drink too much, I’ve slept with enough men I don’t know if I can count them all, and I’ve been known to throw truly ridiculous temper tantrums when I can’t find what I want in my wardrobe.” Victor shook his head. “If, after you see all of this for yourself you still love me, I’ll be amazed. So of course I treasure you. I don’t know how long I’ll have you.”

Yuuri threw himself into Victor’s arms, holding him tight. “Victor, no, you’re kind, and funny, and so sweet, and you care so, so much. Not just about me, but about your friends, and your cousins, and the whole kingdom.” He pulled back to kiss him hard on the lips. “I don’t have a complete memory of my life, but I know that most members of the nobility do _not_ treat their servants like friends and family, and see them as equals. That’s so important to me, I don’t even know _why,_ but that’s so important. You even treat your pets like family, and that’s so cute I don’t know how to describe it.” He shook his head at the stunned, uncomprehending look on Victor’s face. “I’m not perfect either, you’ve only known me two days. I worry so much that I let people down because I don’t do the things I should, purely for fear of failing. I panic all the time. When I’m hurt and angry, I’m manipulative and don’t feel bad about it. If I didn’t have responsibilities I’d sleep all of the time and eat until I was 500 pounds. I have no confidence and the knowledge that people need to rely on me is terrifying. When I let myself down, I wallow in self-pity. I spend all of my time comparing myself to other people and feeling like I fall short. You’re not alone in not being perfect.”

“Yuuri…” It was too much to know that Yuuri saw him that way, and saw himself in such a negative light. He pulled him back against his chest, enjoying the sensation of the other man pressing his face against his neck for comfort. “I think the good outweighs the questionable, _lyubov moya._ Perhaps we can work to be better people for each other.”

Yuuri nodded against Victor’s shoulder, and kissed his neck, before looking up. “I cry a lot, too.”

“I don’t, so when it happens, I’m extremely dramatic about it and feel like it’s the end of the world.”

“You’re not _that_ dramatic,” Yuuri replied with a smile before kissing him very softly. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen in the future, but I think it will be okay if I can stay with you.” _God, please let me stay with Victor._

Victor gave him a teary smile. “Now you’re going to make me cry saying sweet things,” he complained, not really annoyed at all. “I hope you can stay with me forever.” He placed his hands on Yuuri’s waist and tugged him forward.

Yuuri understood that Victor wanted him to sit in his lap, but wasn’t sure how. “I don’t…” Carefully, he straddled Victor’s thighs. “Is this okay?” 

“Perfect.” He wrapped his arms around Yuuri and pulled him against his chest. “Holding you makes everything seem okay.”

Touched, Yuuri kissed Victor’s smiling lips with his arms loosely around his neck. “Any time that I can hold you, I will.” Feeling that unusual boldness that Victor (and maybe champagne) inspired, he pressed their lips together again, and deepened the kiss almost immediately. He’d decided he _really_ liked turning Victor on.

Victor groaned into the kiss, and suddenly remembered the Yuuri he’d woken up on a frozen pond who’d tried to seduce him. This sensual creature had been in his shy young beau all along. When Yuuri ran his hands through his hair, he stopped thinking at all. He slid his hands down Yuuri’s back and cupped his ass before pulling them tight together.

Yuuri didn’t actually think about rocking his erection against Victor’s, he just did it. He broke the kiss with a gasp at the sensation, and moaned when Victor used that opportunity to kiss and nip at his neck. “Oh, Victor--” 

“You like it when I bite your neck, don’t you,” Victor mused. “Harder?”

“Alright,” Yuuri panted.

Victor kissed Yuuri’s throat, making his meandering way over to his ear, and bit down firmly in the sensitive spot just below it. He got a hoarse cry and fingers digging into his shoulders in response. “You do like that. I’ll have to be careful not to leave a mark where it will show.”

Yuuri moaned. The thought of Victor marking him was actually _really_ arousing. His eyes drifted shut as Victor soothed the bite with his tongue and sucked just a little. “Oh, I like that.” 

“Good,” Victor murmured. “I want to find out everything you like.”

“Since I don’t know, we’ll both find out,” Yuuri laughed breathlessly. He moved back enough to pull his shirt off over his head. “I know I like it when you touch me.” _God, I didn’t even have that much wine, what the fuck is wrong with me?_

“Holy hell, Yuuri,” Victor breathed. He ran his hands over Yuuri’s toned chest, along his collar bone, and across his shoulders. “I was too drunk to appreciate just how gorgeous you are last night. Damn.” He pulled Yuuri down for a filthy kiss. If he wanted to push things a little, Victor was more than willing. “I love feeling you hard against me.” 

“Victor, god,” Yuuri gasped, somewhere between embarrassed and too turned on to care. “Can you, I mean if you want--”

“I want,” he murmured, pulling Yuuri’s pants away from his body enough to reach inside. “I love how hard you get when I touch you.”

For a few moments, Yuuri’s brain didn’t function at all. He was on the sofa, in the sitting room, in Victor’s lap, with the man in question’s hand in his pants. And didn’t care. “I want to touch you, too,” he panted against Victor’s lips before kissing him again.

“Yes, gods yes,” Victor moaned. “Stand up for a minute.”

Yuuri carefully stood, and without stopping to consider it, pulled off his lounge pants and underwear. He watched with extreme arousal and Victor lifted up enough to drag his pants down to mid-thigh, and straddled him again. “My glasses--”

Victor plucked them off of his face and tossed them onto the sofa cushion Makka had just vacated. “I can’t decide if you’re sexier with them or without them.” He caressed Yuuri’s bare bottom, using gentle pressure to inspire him to scoot closer. “Move a little, I want to feel you against me.” He smiled when Yuuri gasped at the contact. 

He’d never actually imagined doing something like this, but every time he thought something might be weird, he saw the look of _want_ on Victor’s face and changed his mind. _If we both like it, it can’t be too deviant, right?_ “When you look at me like that…” Yuuri couldn’t put it into words, so instead he claimed Victor’s lips.

Content to be kissed, Victor ran teasing fingertips over Yuuri’s skin, dipping just a little into the cleft of his ass…and he didn’t seem to be bothered by that. _I hope he likes it._ Feeling Yuuri’s hard cock against his was making him crazy, and he was starting to feel a pretty urgent need for friction. Yuuri’s hands were very satisfyingly speared through his hair, so he wrapped a hand around them both, stroking slowly. 

Gasping in surprise, Yuuri threw his head back. “Oh, oh god--”

Victor grinned against the damp skin of Yuuri’s neck. “Good?” He didn’t wait for an answer, he just started kissing Yuuri’s neck, drawing the most delicious moans from his throat. _Intoxicating. He’s just intoxicating._

Although his mind was pretty much nonfunctional, Yuuri realized that he could participate in their pleasure just a little more if his hand joined Victor’s on their cocks. After a few awkward fumbles, they intertwined their fingers and the sensation was twice as good. He loved the attention his neck was getting, but he needed to kiss Victor more than he needed air, so he pulled back to crush their lips together.

It was only a few moments before Victor broke the kiss to shout, and Yuuri felt him spill over their joined hands. He’d made Victor come three times in less than 24 hours and it was kind of really exciting. “Victor, Victor, please,” he panted out, a hundred times more turned on from feeling and watching and hearing Victor orgasm.

“Yuuri,” Victor groaned out, stilling their hands. He was too sensitive. “Move back, just a little.” With a little more room to maneuver, he could stroke him quickly. “Gods, what is it about you, you drive me crazy, you’re so fucking hot.” He looked down to watch them moving—Yuuri was bucking up into his hand, like he had before. “Let go, just let go,” he murmured into his ear before running his tongue around the shell and tugging the lobe with is teeth.

As if he wasn’t aroused enough, Victor proved that he could come hard enough that his eyes crossed with his _ear_ of all body parts. Yuuri groaned from his core as Victor pumped his cock, fingers digging into Victor’s shoulders hard enough that there’d probably be marks from his nails. When the tension went out of his body, he just slumped against Victor, smiling and panting. “Victor,” he whispered.

“My name sounds so much better when you say it during sex.” Victor wiped his hand on the shirt he’d never actually managed to remove. “That was an unexpected pleasure, _lyubov moya,_ thank you.”

“I don’t know what you do to me.” Yuuri forced himself to sit up just a little, and he, too, wiped his hands on Victor’s shirt. Smiling at the sweet look on Victor’s beautiful face, Yuuri kissed him. “I love you, my handsome prince.”

“Mm, I love you too.” Curious, Victor asked, “Yuuri, did you like the way I touched you?” 

“When?”

Victor brushed his fingers along the cleft of Yuuri’s ass and watched goosebumps rise on his skin. “Like this?”

Yuuri took a shivery breath. “Yeah, it tickles, but in a really good way.” Embarrassment immediately assailed him. “Is that, I mean, um--”

“Hush,” Victor soothed, kissing him gently. “Yes, it’s okay, and yes, I wanted to, and yes, I wanted you to like it.”

“Oh.” Yuuri plucked up his courage to finish his terribly embarrassing thought. “I don’t think I’m ready for, I mean not, I mean I want to, but--”

“No, of course not,” Victor reassured him, understanding why Yuuri was so nervous. “No, not until we’re both ready.” As much as he wanted Yuuri in every way, he’d turn him down instantly if he offered. “It’s not just physical, it’s emotional, too. Everyone’s first time is scary, and I want you to know more about intimacy in general before we make love. I want you to be completely comfortable with me, and that won’t happen in two days. At least, it shouldn’t.”

Yuuri relaxed and smiled, still a little blushy but relieved that Victor understood what he couldn’t get out. “Thank you.” He snuggled into Victor’s chest, and tucked his head under his chin. It was a little awkward, but he didn’t care. “What was your first time like?”

Victor chuckled, equal parts amused to tell the story and embarrassed because it was, um, embarrassing. “First time I touched another person, or the first time I had penetrative sex?”

“I didn’t think about that. The first time you touched someone.”

“It was comical. We kept getting our arms tangled because neither of us was any good with our left hand. It took lots of trial and error over a couple of weeks to make things work gracefully. That said, I think I came in less than a minute.”

Yuuri laughed softly. “How old were you?”

“Way too young, because I have a really horny best friend. 13.”

Sitting up quickly, he met Victor’s amused eyes with his surprised ones. “Your first time was with Chris?” To his surprise, Victor blushed. 

“I think my first everything was with Chris.” _Except threesomes._

“Oh.” 

“Does that bother you?” Victor knew a concerned look was gathering on his face. If Yuuri was upset…

Yuuri shook his head, forcing himself to focus on Victor and not imagine the two of them in bed. “No, but I’ll probably blush when I see him thinking about it.”

Victor grinned. “I won’t tell him you know, that way he won’t deliberately torture you.”

“Thanks.” Yuuri just had to ask the question. “He has a really nice butt, how does mine compare?” When Victor burst out in surprised laughter, he grinned. 

“I prefer yours,” Victor laughed, and smacked a kiss on Yuuri’s smiling lips. “But to be fair, I haven’t groped Chris’s in almost three years, so I can’t do a direct firmness comparison.” He didn’t think Yuuri _actually_ wanted a comparison. 

“That’s okay, I guess.” Yuuri returned the kiss happily before putting his head on Victor’s shoulder.

They were quiet for a little while before Victor pointed out that they were in a very precarious situation. “We should probably be less naked in the sitting room. Alexei has seen worse, but you probably don’t want him to see you in the buff.”

“Oh my god, I’d totally forgotten we were on the sofa.” Yuuri scrambled off Victor’s lap and hurriedly put on his pants. Glancing around, he found his shirt and glasses while Victor pulled his own pants up. He watched as Victor stretched out along the sofa with a pillow under his head, and wondered where he’d fit.

“Come join me.” He held out his hand to offer Yuuri a spot basically on top of him. “I need your arms around me.”

Well if that wasn’t enough to melt his heart, Yuuri didn’t know what was, and he carefully arranged himself between Victor’s long, lean body and the velvet back of the sofa. “Is this okay?”

“Mm, perfect.” He adjusted a little onto his side, so that Yuuri fit better, and tangled their legs together. “I really, _really_ , want to cuddle after sex.” _More like need._ The sofa was really too short and too narrow for both of them, but Victor didn’t care. “I love you so much, Yuuri.”

“I love you too,” Yuuri whispered. “Every time you say it, I get more butterflies in my stomach. Like it’s the first time you’ve said it.” And Victor had said it _a lot_ in the last couple days.

“Me, too.” Yuuri’s face was pressed against his chest, so he kissed the top of his head. “It’s a thrill every time.” _I’m going to pray to every god that you get to stay with me forever. I can’t give up hearing those words from you._

“I love you,” Yuuri repeated. He wanted to say it a thousand times, then a thousand more. _I don’t think I can live without him. It’s been two days, just two days, and I know that if I forget all of this life when I get my memories back, I’ll never be able to forget loving Victor, or him loving me._

“I can feel it, like a warm glow in my chest.”

“Me, too. Magic?”

“I think so. I think it’s because you’re my true love.” _My soulmate._

Yuuri tightened his whole-body embrace of his beloved prince. “Whatever curse or spell brought me here is really a blessing for both of us.”

Victor felt tears prick in his eyes for the third time that day. “It is.” He pictured every star and planet in the sky aligning to place Yuuri in his path. “Yuuri, would you like to do some stargazing?”

“I’d love to. Where? Not the meadow, I know there are unicorns down there.”

He laughed. “No, the small tower where Yuri fried himself today. It’s called ‘the small tower’ because it’s the shortest, but it’s actually bigger around than the Queen’s tower. The roof is flat and perfect for stargazing.”

“Alright. But I’m going to need help getting off the sofa without putting my knee in a place you really don’t want it.”

They dressed quickly in their clothes from earlier in the day, and Yuuri got a chance to put on his new shoes. Victor led him through empty passages and servant’s quarters to avoid any courtiers. They’d climbed from the third to the fifth floor before they got to the tower, and went up four landings to the little room at the top.

Victor opened the chest pressed against the wall, and pulled out a fluffy blanket and two pillows. “Here, hold these while I pop open the trap door.”

Yuuri watched as Victor climbed the ladder attached to the ceiling, and pushed open the small panel that led to the roof. He passed the blanket and pillows to him then watched as he lifted himself out with his arms. 

Victor stuck his head back into the tower. “Come on, I’ll help you if you need it.”

He didn’t actually need help, he was strong enough, and coordinated enough, to exit the trapdoor gracefully. When he moved to the side, Victor shut the hatch and latched it. “Other people know how to get up here. I don’t especially want company.”

They stretched out on the spread blanket and soft pillows, and without speaking, threaded their fingers together. The breeze was soft and cool, and it was quiet. Yuuri got lost in the sky, feeling like he was part of it himself, and flying high above the ground. He gasped when a bright streak shot across the stars. “Make a wish, Victor!”

_I wish that Yuuri would never leave me._

_I wish that I could remember my past and still have Victor._

“What did you wish for?”

Yuuri turned his head. “You can’t tell, or it won’t come true.”

Victor met his eyes, smiling. “Then I won’t tell you mine, either.”

“This is beautiful.”

Victor lifted their joined hands and traced a shape anchored with bright stars. “See these five stars? They make up the Lady’s Chariot. She flies across the night sky, guiding sailors.”

“That makes no sense, in no way does that look like a vehicle.”

Victor continued, moving their hands to a series of stars in front of the ‘chariot.’ “These are the fairy cats that pull the chariot.” 

“Those are starry blobs.”

He moved to another part of the sky. “This shape--” he moved their hands from star to star, “is the Wurm, a dragon that devoured the first sun and moon, so the Lord and Lady took stars from their crowns to restore light to the world. In the winter, you can see the warrior who defeated it.”

“Constellations make no sense. I know we have them in my country, and that they don’t make sense there, either.”

Victor laughed softly. “I can only imagine that ancient people were seriously bored if they could see pictures in these shapes.”

“I still like stargazing.”

“I was thinking earlier that every star in the sky aligned just for me to bring you into my life.”

Yuuri rolled onto his side and gently stroked Victor’s cheek. “The entire sky?”

Victor looked into those dark eyes. “Every star. And every star that fell was a wish for you.”

“I was thinking that your hair is the exact color of starlight.”

“Really? That’s just terribly romantic, Yuuri.”

“So is saying every star aligned to bring us together.”

“So it is.”

“I love it,” Yuuri whispered, and kissed him softly. _It’s embarrassing and ridiculous, but I love it._

“I’m glad.”

Yuuri snuggled into Victor’s chest, content to share the quiet night sky with the man he loved. _Please, whatever gods or goddesses are out there, let me stay with Victor._

“Make another wish, Yuuri,” Victor murmured, interrupting his prayer.

“I did.”

“Will you tell me?”

“I wished that I wouldn’t fall asleep on this roof and wake up with every part of my body aching.”

“Oh, I wished you’d have sex with me up here.” He laughed when Yuuri smacked his chest. 

“Not tonight.”

“Oh? Does that mean it’s a possibility?”

“Maybe.” _That sounds so naughty, I kind of love it._

Later, after they’d managed to make it down the ladder and all of the stairs, they crawled into Victor’s bed, happy to be on a soft surface, even if the view wasn’t quite so spectacular. After they’d settled comfortably, glued to each other, Makkachin contentedly flopped down on the bottom of the bed with a happy sigh.

“I wished on a shooting star,” Victor whispered to the air around him as Yuuri slept. “Wished that you’d stay with me forever. That means it will come true, right?”

There was no answer.

...

...

Visual aids!

The Russian outfits are from this promotional art:

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/29584874807/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The return of the crack fic! This beginning of the school year has been INSANE. What did you guys think of the chapter? I'm going to ask for opinions, should Yuuri tell Victor's dad to get fucked? Let me know in the comments. What did you think of the constellations? I made them up, but I borrowed from various European mythologies. So far I think I've mentioned most of the YOI ships. Obviously Victuuri, duh. Guang-hong is making eyes at Leo, Mickey and Emil, Sara and Mila, ChrisuMasu, and when Otabek joins the cast, Otayuri will happen. I'm not into Phichit/Seung-gil, so that isn't mentioned. If I missed one, let me know. Also, I have another Chris/Tristan side fic brewing if anyone is interested, so that will probably be up before the next chapter. I feel like Chris has an explicit content warning tattooed somewhere on his body. Probably his butt.


	9. In which Victor is the best boyfriend ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit short, because what's going to happen next is longer and needs to be it's own chapter. There are some visual aids at the end! I had said I was going to post my Chris/Tristan story first, but I was anxious on Yuuri's behalf after last night and had to get to him!

Yuuri woke to an empty bed. He blinked a few times, and reached out and touched sheets. They were cool; Victor had been up for a while.

He pondered that. His brain had two ideas. Logic told him that Makkachin most likely woke Victor to go outside, and that Victor, being a morning person, was enjoying the gardens with his dog and had not come back yet. Anxiety told him that Victor was sick to death of the lame-ass virgin that was hanging all over him and was too scared to even have sex with him, and had gotten up and was avoiding him. 

The door to the sitting room was cracked, it would take five seconds to get up and see if Victor was out there enjoying not being around him, but he didn’t actually _want_ to know if Victor was avoiding him. It was quiet in the sitting room, and Victor was almost never quiet as far as Yuuri could tell, but still. He could be trying to keep him from waking up as long as possible.

The thoughts in Yuuri’s head were spiraling quickly into dangerously negative territory, and a replay of last night’s conversation was echoing in his head. _How could a man who’s had sex with so many people he can’t actually count want to be with a loser who’s not only slept with no one, but is terrified of it? What can I offer him?_ And he’d known, from Victor’s own confession, that he and Chris had been lovers, but they’d been each other’s first _everything?_ He swore that they were just friends, but how on earth could you _not_ fall in love with Victor? He was kind, and funny, and so beautiful. How could Chris look at him now and not want him? _He clearly, genuinely loves Tristan,_ logic argued. _You know Victor loves you. There’s nothing between them._ Anxiety was fighting back with wordless jealousy. And even though he thought Chris was kinda gross with his over-the-top sexuality, he could see why someone would love him – he was handsome and very affectionate, and he obviously loved Victor. How could someone _not_ fall in love with Chris? Logic tried in vain to point out that he’d seen them together several times and it was obvious they were not a thing, but Yuuri was well on his way to a panic attack. 

_And all of the other men he’s been with, oh my god, how could I possibly, ever, live up to that kind of expectation?_ Yuuri wiped furiously at his eyes, but the tears wouldn’t stop coming. He was so desperately in love with Victor that they idea that he’d never satisfy him was devastating. _He loves me now, but what if I’m just terrible in bed? I’ve never had sex, I don’t know what I’m doing, every time we do something I’ve never thought of it before. When he sees how hopeless I am, will he leave me?_ God, and then what would happen, he’d be alone and broken in a foreign country with people pitying him for being so bad in bed that his boyfriend fell out of love with him.

He was sobbing so hard that he didn’t hear the door from the hall open, and was thoroughly shocked with Makkachin leapt onto him, full force, with wet feet and lots of frantic kisses. He heard Victor laugh before he told the big fluff ball to get off of him.

“I was going to see if you were awake, but you are now,” Victor joked, unaware as of yet that Yuuri was a wreck under his dog. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his shoes before sitting up against the headboard. “Good morning, _solnyshko_ , did you sleep – oh gods, Yuuri, are you crying? What’s wrong?”

Yuuri couldn’t answer, he couldn’t put his overwhelming despair into words. Part of his brain was screaming to pull himself together because he was clearly wrong about everything, but he was too far gone to listen. He didn’t resist when Victor pulled him into his arms, in fact, he clung to him as tightly as he could. “I’m sorry,” he choked out.

“I’m sure you don’t have anything to be sorry for, _lyubov moya,”_ Victor murmured, holding him close and stroking his hair. “I don’t know what’s happened, but I’m sure we can fix it. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” _Gods I hope I can fix it. What could have happened between last night when he told me my hair was the color of starlight and this morning?_

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, give me a second, I’ll stop,” he tried to get out, but kept crying anyway. 

“No, it’s okay, cry if you need to. You can tell me if you want, but if you can’t, it’s okay.”

Yuuri was quiet except for sobs for a few more moments, in which he clutched Victor like a life raft in a stormy sea. “I-I-I don’t know why you want to have a relationship with me. I’m-I’m nothing. I don’t have anything to offer you.” He broke off crying for a few moments. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be good enough for you.”

“Good enough? Good enough how? You’re perfect now.” Victor kissed his hair. 

Then it hit him. _Oh shit._

“Do you mean, as a lover?” The intensifying of the sobbing was enough of an answer. _Good job, Nikiforov, you’ve broken his heart by telling him just how much of a slut you are._ “Oh, oh Yuuri, oh gods, you poor thing.” He rocked him, just letting him cry for a moment. “Yuuri, I love you so, so much, please don’t cry anymore.”

Victor’s sweet words almost hurt worse than if he’d just told him to get his shit together. “I love you, too, god, so much, please don’t leave me,” he managed to get out around his tears. 

“Never, Yuuri, never.” He had a horrible thought. What if _Yuuri_ wanted to leave _him_ because he was so, well, so, yeah. “Oh gods, don’t leave me.” He tightened his arms around him.

Yuuri responded with a vigorous headshake. “No, never.”

Relieved that at least he wasn’t in danger of being dumped, Victor rubbed Yuuri’s back and kissed his hair. “ _Lyubov moya,_ everything will be alright. I feel horrible that you’re this upset over something so small to me.”

Well, that was unexpected. Yuuri forced himself to pull away and at least wipe his nose with his shirt. He looked into Victor’s kind eyes. “Small?”

“You’re worried that you won’t be good in bed, right? And that I’ll leave you?”

Yuuri nodded. 

“Why?”

Yuuri was confused. “I-I don’t know, I mean, what if--” He focused on Victor’s troubled face. “I’ve never done _anything_ before, what if--” _What if I totally suck?_ “And you, you have so much experience, I--” he stopped when Victor winced. “What?”

“Yes, I have a lot of experience.” He shook his head. “A lot. And I know what you’re thinking, some of it was really good.” Victor shook his head again. “Some of my lovers, especially when I was younger, I pursued purely because I wanted to have sex. You don’t know this because you’re not from here, but at court, sleeping around is pretty much the most popular thing to do among the younger courtiers. The drama of falling in and out of love is all most of the children of the wealthy and noble have to do with their time. I slept with a lot of people, because a lot of people wanted to sleep with me, and it was just part of the game.” 

“Oh.” That didn’t really make him feel any better, but at least he knew more about Victor.

“As I got older, it became less about the fun of trying new things. I didn’t realize something until a lot later. Do you know why I took so many lovers, Yuuri?”

He shook his head. 

“Because I was _lonely_. I was trying to fill the void in my life with people who could make me feel good for a while. But the problem with that was that none of those men wanted _me_ , they wanted the beautiful Prince of Rus. They wanted my looks, my skills, and my political position. I always wanted more, but convinced myself that I just wanted sex, because it was clear that I was not going to find love or even friendship with most of them.”

“But Chris wasn’t like that.”

Victor smiled sadly. “No, he wasn’t. And we always had fun together, we’ll always love each other, and always be best friends, but we were never going to fall in love with each other. We talked about it several times when we were lonely, how we wished we could feel that for each other, but we didn’t. And never will. And let me just tell you, you will never find another person on earth that has ever been as jealous as I was when Chris found Tristan. Not because I wanted Chris, but because I wanted my own Tristan.” He grinned when Yuuri let out a little hiccup of a laugh. “I’d also never been so happy in my life as I was when he wrote to me that Tristan loved him back. But nothing will ever compare to how happy I was when you opened your eyes and smiled at me.”

Yuuri smiled for the first time since he’d woken up. “I’m glad I could make you happy.”

“You’re continuing to make me happy. Not when I make you cry, obviously.”

“I’m a mess, I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault. Are you still afraid you’ll disappoint me?”

Yuuri was quiet for a moment. “Yes.”

“You can’t. Do you know why? Because the last thing I want is another man who’s made himself into a professional lover. I want love, and passion, and someone who wants _me_ , and I thought I’d never have that. Then I found you, and you woke up and tried to seduce me not even knowing who I was, and you love me so much that I can feel it. I’m free to love you with my whole heart because you don’t care that I’m in line for a throne, you just want to stay with me. No matter what happens, Yuuri, when we make love, you will be perfect.”

“You say the most amazing things to me,” he whispered. 

“I mean every word.”

Yuuri smiled softly, replaying the beautiful message that Victor had spoken. “Wait, I tried to seduce you?”

“It was _hilarious._ ” Victor grinned. “You said something so lewd that Chris was impressed.”

“WHAT?” Yuuri sat up straight, shock written all over his face. “Oh god, what did I say?”

Victor sat up too, laughing. “I offered to help you get off the altar, and you said something along the lines of ‘oh, you want to get me off’ and then while Chris was dying of laughter and I was trying to decide what to do, he offered to help you down and you told him he was really hot but that I’d already offered to help you get off and then you started kissing my neck.”

Yuuri was pretty sure that the human face was not intended for the eyes to be open this wide. “Oh my god.”

“When we were trying to get back to the horses to come home, Chris accidentally touched your butt and you rubbed yourself all over him.”

He buried his face in his hands. “I can’t believe it. I don’t remember any of this. No wonder Chris was teasing me.”

“I was understandably surprised when you were terrified of me being in bed with you.”

“And now I’m always in bed with you.”

Victor pulled Yuuri into his lap, and wrapped him in his arms. “Do you feel better now?”

He nodded and hugged Victor close. “I’m still nervous.”

“Everyone is. And yes, I’m fine with waiting, don’t get upset about that. Sex really isn’t even that important to me.”

“Really?”

“Being close to someone is more important. You, specifically. That doesn’t have to involve sex at all. It probably will, because we’re both young and male, but cuddling is what I want more than anything. I love being touched.”

Yuuri moved back a little so Victor could see him smile. “I can tell, I like that about you.”

Victor stroked his hand through Yuuri’s messy hair. “I like touching you. I have to remind myself that you’re real.”

He took Victor’s hand and pressed it to his cheek. “I’m real.”

“I love you so much there aren’t words, Yuuri.”

“I love you, too. I hope someday I have the words to tell you just how much.” 

“I’m sorry I made you cry, _solnyshko,_ I didn’t mean to.”

Yuuri shook his head. “It’s not you, it’s me. I’m so mentally weak that my insecurities rule my life.”

“I don’t believe that. You’re not mentally weak, Yuuri, you’re in a strange place, you suddenly woke up in love with a man you’d never seen before, and it’s completely logical for you to freak out over learning that your boyfriend, who you barely know, has a really, um, colorful previous love life.”

“Colorful is a good description, I think.”

“I’m a wealth of licentious knowledge if you have any questions. But if you’re too embarrassed to ask me, there’s probably nothing Alexei doesn’t know about sex. Like, seriously.”

“Oh god, how could I ever ask him?”

“The same way I did, with extreme embarrassment. There’s also Chris, he’s just as much of an, um, amorous person as I am. Actually, he’s way worse. Much more adventurous.”

Yuuri covered his face with his hands. “Now you’re just teasing me to see if I can spontaneously combust from blushing.”

Victor laughed softly. “Just giving you options, _lyubov moya._ ” 

Realistically, Yuuri didn’t even know what questions to ask he was so clueless. “Can we talk about something else?”

Pulling Yuuri close and holding him tight sounded like the best possible way to change them subject. “I love you, Yuuri, don’t worry about your lack of knowledge. It’s not important to me. I’ll always ask you if you’re ready to try something new. I’ll always explain things to you. If you don’t want to do something, we won’t. If we try it and you don’t like it, even in the middle of doing it, we’ll stop. I will never pressure you to do things that make you uncomfortable. But if you have questions you’re afraid to ask me, Alexei, Chris, or Tristan will be happy to talk to you. Alexei might tease you just a tiny bit, but Chris and Tristan are both extremely sweet. Tristan and Alexei are older and have had actual relationships before.”

He’d never pictured Alexei having a relationship for some reason. “Alexei has just been with girls, though, right?”

Victor shrugged. “I’m not sure that’s the case, actually. He knows an awful lot about gay sex for a straight man. I know he’s only had relationships with girls, though. He’s popular with the ladies. I can’t work up an iota of attraction for him because he’s like an older brother, but I can appreciate aesthetically that he’s very handsome.”

“He has pretty hair. Do all Russians have pretty hair? Mila and Yuri both have really nice hair, too.”

He laughed. “I hadn’t considered that, actually. But Yuri and Mila do have pretty hair. I’m not a huge fan of the curls or the ponytail that Alexei wears, but it certainly appeals to members of the opposite sex. He’s been propositioned by women from every tier of society.”

“I wonder if anyone has ever hit on me?” He kinda doubted it.

“Gods, have you _seen_ yourself? How could people _not_ hit on you? You’re _gorgeous_ , you have the most adorable, sweet smile, and you scream ‘love me, I’m perfect.’”

Yuuri laughed. “I’m pretty sure that is _not_ the case. I’m so shy I doubt anyone notices me.”

“After a couple drinks, you’re really not shy,” Victor teased.

“Are you just trying to kill me with embarrassment?”

“Possibly.” Victor squeezed his beloved tight. “Do you want to get up and have breakfast? We could go riding this morning. It’s not even 9:00.”

Yuuri squeezed Victor just as tight. “I thought I needed special clothes and boots.”

Victor let Yuuri go enough that they could look at each other. “It occurred to me that there’s no way we’re going to be riding long enough, or go fast enough, for you to need leathers and riding boots. Loose pants and your regular shoes will be fine.”

“Alright. I want to wash up first.”

“Good plan, I’ll go find Alexei.”

Yuuri eyed himself critically in the mirror. He was a hot mess. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot, his nose was red, his hair was tangled and all over the place, and his shirt was wet from tears and snot. He washed his face, then thinking about it, stripped and washed all over before brushing his teeth and hair. He snuck back into Victor’s room naked, and took some of his pajamas, even though they were too big. 

Makkachin greeted him with a happy bark when he went into the sitting room. He really liked Makkachin, he was sure he loved dogs in general, even in his old life. Makka was like a puppy, even though Victor had said he was getting old. Yuuri wasn’t self-conscious about giving the fluffy dog a hug and a kiss on the nose.

“Makkachin really loves you,” Victor commented with a smile when he walked in. “He’s a selective dog, he only likes nice people.”

“Then why does he like you?”

Yuuri looked up to see Alexei coming in with tea. As usual, he was wearing a smart-ass expression.

“I should fire you.” Victor took the cups dangling from his fingers. “Thanks for making tea while we wait for breakfast.”

“You can’t fire me, no one else would ever put up with you. You’re welcome.”

“Was there ever a time that you acted like Victor was royalty?”

“When I first met him, I was eh, fairly, professional,” Alexei answered with a gesture to indicate the so-so nature of his professionalism. 

“I asked him not to call me ‘Prince Victor’ or ‘your highness’ the day we met.” Victor poured tea. “Alexei was a definite improvement over having a nanny, but I basically still needed a nanny.”

“You really did. We set the tone for our relationship early on, when I told him to pull himself together and act like a 12-year-old not a toddler.”

“And the first time I had a breakdown when you let me sob on your shoulder.”

“Which was the same day.”

“Then he realized that he could tease me and I’d tease back and things were swell.”

“Then I met Chris and realized I’d have to up my game on being an asshole if I was going to deal with both of them.”

Yuuri had finally gotten off the floor with Makkachin and settled on the sofa with Victor. “What really makes our relationship different is that I make Alexei hang out with me when most nobles would send their valets off to do things for them. Like, if I want to go to the book shop, I grab Alexei and we go together, instead of just telling him to go for me while I fuck off with trying to seem important at court.”

“That’s why you’ll see me out of livery a lot of the time, because I’m just going to spend time with Victor. Servant’s livery is really dull and he pays me well enough to have much snazzier clothes. Don’t tell him, but I think of him as one of my best friends. I like him more than I do my actual younger brother.”

Yuuri laughed into his tea. They were such dorks.

Alexei stood up. “I’m going to go get you a breakfast tray, lads. I actually got up on time today, so you won’t have my company, I’m afraid.”

“You can still sit with us and drink tea,” Victor argued.

“Oh no, twist my arm, I’m so sad that you’re making me sit with you instead of harassing the laundry again because they seem to think you like your shirts to be stiff and uncomfortable.”

“The head mistress of the laundry is a tyrant,” Victor explained. “The appeal of ripping clothes off to have sex really drops when she barges into your room to scream at you for making too much work for her.”

“That sounds really embarrassing.”

“It was.”

Alexei was gone a few minutes to get breakfast, in which Victor couldn’t resist kissing Yuuri, which of course led to “I’m gone five minutes,” but this time Yuuri was more or less prepared and wasn’t as embarrassed. Fresh clothes were waiting for him on his bed after breakfast, and he went to find Victor when he was dressed. The door to his room was open, and Yuuri stuck his head in. “Victor?”

“Right here,” he answered from the other side of the wardrobe door. “I was trying to decide if I wanted to put on riding gear or just regular clothes. If you were riding any horse besides Leibchen I’d want boots in case I had to chase her if she spooked. Liebchen is really calm, and nothing on any of the riding paths near the palace will spook her. She doesn’t even mind the Old Forest too much.”

Yuuri sat on the edge of the bed while Victor was looking at different shirts. “Liebchen means ‘darling’ right?”

“Yes, in Deutsch. She was a gift from Aunt Adela to my mother after her horse had to be put down.”

“Oh, that’s sad, why?”

Victor pulled his tunic over his head before answering. “She fell in a rabbit hole and broke both front legs. Even with the really skilled healers here, there wasn’t much hope for her. Her left leg was shattered, there was no way they could repair it to the point that it could bear her weight.”

“Was your mother hurt when she fell?”

He sat next to Yuuri to put on his shoes. “No, a groom was exercising her. That poor boy wanted to die himself. Mom didn’t blame him, of course. It wasn’t his fault that the person who was supposed to be maintaining the bridle paths hadn’t done his job. He still felt so terrible that she went down to the stables to check on _him_ almost every day. When she got Leibchen, she asked him to ride with her, and they made sure the trails were in good shape so he could exercise her new horse. He actually takes Rose out if I don’t go riding.”

“Your mother was so kind. You’re so much like her.”

“I’m about 100% more selfish and self-centered than she was.”

Yuuri gently shoved Victor’s shoulder. “You’re not.”

“You’re sweet but delusional. Let’s go.”

***

Horses were a lot bigger than Yuuri remembered. But he was pretty thrilled that he at least remembered they existed, so it wasn’t all bad.

When they got down to the stables, Victor introduced Yuuri to the staff that was around, and showed him all the different parts of the building (excluding the muck pit). He stopped in a closet and pulled out a container before leading Yuuri down the long aisle.

“I didn’t have them saddle Rose and Liebchen ahead of time, since I wanted you see how to make friends with a horse and show you how to saddle one. I don’t expect you to try it today, but you should know how to take care of your own horse. I groom Rose and take care of her tack myself.”

“Oh, okay.” Yuuri felt really out of his depth. He had no idea what any of that entailed.

Victor stopped in front of a large, open horse holding…place. There was a pretty silver horse munching on…hay? Victor made a sort of clicking noise with his tongue and she turned to see him, and walked over to put her head over the half door. 

“Yuuri, this is Rose, my sweet little mare. Isn’t she pretty? My mother gave her to me when I turned 16. Would you like to give her a cookie? She’s a nice girl and won’t bite you.” Victor held out a small object from the container he’d grabbed earlier.

“Okay,” Yuuri murmured, and took the cookie from Victor. He turned to look at the (big) horse with (big) teeth. “How?”

“Put it in your palm and hold your hand completely flat.” He positioned Yuuri’s hand himself and put the cookie in the center. “Hold your hand under her nose. Horses have a blind spot right in front of them because their eyes are on the sides of their head, so unless it’s by her nose where she can smell it, she’s not going to know what you’re doing while you’re this close to her face.” Victor guided his hand. “Rosie, Yuuri has a treat for you.”

Yuuri watched, nervous, as the horse felt his hand with her velvety lips before taking the cookie with her teeth very gently. “She took it, and I still have my hand, this is a success.”

Victor laughed and Rose twitched her ears. “Here, she can have another cookie.” He handed it to Yuuri and watched with approval has he gave it to her carefully. “She likes you. You can scratch her ears, she really likes that. She likes nose rubs, too.”

The sweet gentleness of the mare made Yuuri a lot less nervous about horses, and he stroked her nose softly. “She reminds me of the unicorn in your book.”

“Aw, do you hear that, Rosie? Yuuri thinks you’re pretty.” Victor kissed the side of Yuuri’s head.

They both jumped when the horse next door kicked the wall.

“That’s Chris’s horse. He wants cookies. He also won’t bite, but he’s a total fat ass, he can only have a couple.”

Chris’s horse was taller than Rose, and a beautiful gold were Victor’s horse was silver. “What’s his name?” he asked as he offered the gelding the sweet treat.

“Tanzen. It means ‘dance’ in Deutsch. When he wants something he’ll dance in place he gets so impatient. The bay mare on his other side is Mila’s horse, her name is Princess.” Victor turned and indicated another pale horse opposite Rose. “This is Yuri’s mare, Zhenya. Isn’t she pretty? She really looks like a unicorn. She’s Rose’s little sister.”

He could see that Zhenya was a little feisty, like her owner, but she was very gentle about taking cookies from his hand. “Who is this?” He indicated the chestnut with a pale mane and tail with a tilt of his head.

“That’s the horse Tristan rode on the trip from Schweiz. He refuses to let Chris give him his own horse because he’d never get to ride it. I think his name is Choux. It’s a pastry.”

Yuuri fed Choux a few cookies while Victor talked about some of the other horses that lived in the stables. “Up ahead you’ll see my father’s horse, he’s gorgeous. And Yakov’s horse, he’s ugly as fuck. And of course, Liebchen.” 

The only word to describe Liebchen was ‘dainty.’ She wasn’t really smaller than Rose or Zhenya, but her ears were just so pretty, and her face was extremely sweet, her eyes were bigger than the other horses’ were, and her mane and tail were long and wavy. She was a very pale golden tan, with a black mane and tail. She looked like she was wearing long black gloves and stockings, too. 

“This color is called buckskin,” Victor explained. “Nicely tanned deer hide is this color, hence the name. Isn’t she cute? She likes apples, but I forgot to grab one from the kitchen.”

After feeding her a couple cookies, Yuuri stroked her nose, and patted her neck. “She’s pretty. Do horses mind being ridden?”

“At first they do, they have to be broken to the saddle. Then they don’t seem to care. Horses are meant to move, and I don’t think we weigh very much to them, so they’re like ‘whatever.’ Move over, I’ll bring her out.”

Yuuri watched with some pretty serious concern as Victor went into the space with Liebchen, and did something with a harness of some kind, then put a leash thing on it, and walked her out into the aisle. “Victor, will you tell me the names for all of these horse things?”

He laughed. “You probably need to know that, yeah. Okay, this is a stall, that’s where horses hang out, this on her face is a halter, this that I’m holding is a lead.”

“Okay, got it.”

“I’m going to get her ‘tack,’ that’s all the gear that the horse wears for riding. One of the many reasons you’re riding Liebchen is that she’ll take a bit. Rose’s mouth is so sensitive that I had to learn to guide her with knee pressure and the reins against her neck, because she absolutely cannot handle the bit in her mouth.”

“I don’t know what any of that means.”

Victor shook his head. “You’ll learn. Here, take her lead.”

Yuuri looked at the leather leash like it was a venomous snake. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, all you have to do is hold it. She’ll stand still.”

He took the lead with extreme trepidation, but true to Victor’s word, Liebchen didn’t move.

“Down in the center where we came in is an open area for saddling up and mounting. A lot of the time a horse’s tack is stored right with them, but Rose and Liebchen have really fancy tack that is kept in its own shed. Here, I’m going to show you how to lead her down the aisle.” Victor took the lead, and held it fairly close to her chin in his left hand, and the slack more loosely in his right. “Pay attention, there will be a quiz later.” He started walking slowly. “Stay with me, you don’t want to be behind a horse. They kick. If they don’t kick, they still poop unexpectedly.”

Yuuri hurried to stay next to Victor. Kicked. Pooped on. Both were bad.

At Rose’s stall, Victor passed the lead to Yuuri. “Hold it like I did, you’ll be fine. I have to grab Rosie.”

He essentially stared at the horse to make sure she didn’t try to escape, not that he’d know what to do if she did. But she didn’t. She turned her head to snuffle his hair and whickered at Rose when Victor led her out. The girls touched noses gently.

“They’re really good friends. I’d like them to be next to each other, but my father insists that she be next to his asshole gelding that ignores her. A lot of times I ask Nikolas to ride with me so that they can gossip about whatever horses gossip about and they both get exercise.”

“Nikolas is the groom?”

Victor nodded. “He’s friends with Alexei, too. We’ve all gotten way too drunk together before.” He patted Rose’s neck. “Okay, _solnyshko_ , I’m going to lead her down the aisle, just follow me. But not too close.” 

Somehow, Yuuri managed to not die a tragic, horse-related death in the short distance to the center of the building. Liebchen just…walked. Nothing bad happened. There were a few grooms waiting for him and Victor and he wondered what the next part of his adventure would be.

“You can hand her over to Felix, Yuuri,” Victor explained. “He’s going to saddle her, I want you to watch from out of the way while we get them ready to go.”

Yuuri watched with curiosity as Victor and the groom, Felix, put blankets over the horses’ backs, then the saddles, which looked heavy as hell, and the horses didn’t move. They both got different harness-type-things on their heads, too. He knew there were things missing in his memory, but he was damned sure most horses did not have blue saddles.

“Oh, um, Rose has blue, um, tack.” _God how ridiculous that must have cost a fortune._

“Ridiculous, isn’t it? Cost a fortune. But it’s so pretty!”

_Well at least he knows it’s ridiculous._ “Liebchen’s is black?” It was a question.

“Doesn’t it look pretty with her coloring?”

“Yes, but, um, it’s--”

“What?”

“Silly? To match the saddle to her hair?”

“Hah. Never. My mother picked Rose for me because she matches my hair.”

“Oh my god, her saddle matches your eyes. Victor, you are huge dork.”

“Besides, Liebchen’s tack was a gift to my mom from Chris.” Victor held out his hand to Yuuri. “Come here.”

Yuuri happily accepted a kiss before Victor started explaining what the mares were wearing. “Remember how I said Rose can’t stand a bit? That’s why she’s wearing a hackamore. It’s a bridle without a bit. If you look at Liebchen, you can see that there’s a piece of metal between her front and back teeth. That’s the ‘bit.’ Pulling back on the reins pulls the bit against her teeth, and that’s uncomfortable, and she’s trained that it means ‘stop walking and I’ll stop pulling,’ so she’ll slow down. Liebchen must have been a joy to train, she’s smart but not high-strung. Rose was a pain in the ass, and riding her is still more of a negotiation than a partnership.”

“Does the bit hurt her?”

“If you pull on the reins too hard, then yes. It was designed for ‘controlling’ horses. We’ll probably never be in a situation where you can hurt her, though. Today we’re not going to go any faster than a walk and there aren’t any sharp turns or obstacles on any of the paths. Liebchen also already knows these bridle paths, so she won’t really need any guidance.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to show you how to mount, then Felix will help you copy what I do. Watch.”

Yuuri watched as Victor looped the reins over the high front of the saddle, then put his left foot in the…thing…then hefted himself up onto the horse’s back. It looked easy. That meant that, without a doubt, it would not be easy. 

“It’s easy. Put your foot in the stirrup and your hands on the pommel, then lift yourself up and swing your leg over her back. Felix is holding the reins for you, she won’t go anywhere.”

“Here goes,” he muttered to himself, then tried to copy Victor’s graceful movements. The stirrup was up higher than was comfortable for him to lift his leg, but only by a little. He gripped the pommel as best he could before pulling with his arms and pushing with his leg muscles to almost stand up. He awkwardly got his right leg over Leibchen’s back without hurting her, kicking someone, or dislocating any joints. Amazed by his accomplishment, Yuuri smiled. “I didn’t die.”

Victor laughed. “Of course not. Take the reins. One of the nice things about horses is that they’re herd animals, so they like to do what all the other horses are doing. When I walk Rose out the door, Leibchen will follow. Take the reins like this--” he held up his hands to demonstrate, “—and touch your knees to her sides just a little like this--” he kneed Rose, “—and she’ll move. Tug the reins to the right, she’ll go right. To the left, she’ll go left. Pull back, she’ll stop. Gentle pressure to her sides, she’ll start walking.” 

“Alright.” All Yuuri could think about right now was how far he was from the ground and how unbelievably _wide_ horses were. “I’m going to be sore after this, aren’t I?”

“Yep. You’re going to think your legs will never go back together. And not in a good way.”

“There’s a good—oh shut up.”

Throughout the rest of the morning, Yuuri managed – somehow – to ride a horse. There was a wide grassy space behind the stable, which Victor informed him was called a paddock, where they practiced just walking around. Liebchen was really a remarkable beast, she put up with him freaking out and clamping his legs around her middle more than once, he would have bucked himself off by now. Soon, Victor proclaimed him proficient enough to make it out of the palace grounds.

“We’re just going to follow that path to the back gate,” he instructed, pointing. “This gate is designed so you can get in and out on horseback, just follow me, I’ll open it and close it behind you.”

At the back gate, Victor gave the guard his name as “my friend, Yuuri,” and said they’d be back by noon. They passed under the tall, thick wall, and out into the morning sunshine outside the palace.

“It’s funny to think that, all of my life until the last few days, I’d never been _in_ your palace, but now it feels like my entire life has been _in_ your palace, and I’m out of it for the first time.”

“That is funny,” Victor replied with a smile. “I get out of the palace whenever I can. My father complains that I’m ‘not doing my duty’ but the truth is that I spend most of my time doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. 95% of my job as Heir is to make people like me so that they have a good opinion of the royal family and my father. I can do that in a lot of ways, and one of them that I’ve always enjoyed is taking people riding. Many noble families, especially the ones that live in the city, have horses, but not a lot of opportunities to ride them. If I ask a group of courtiers to go riding, they all get to show off their expensive beasts, fancy riding clothes, and get some exercise for a change. There’s nearly always a person in the group who doesn’t have his or her own horse, and they’re deeply touched that they get to ride Liebchen.” 

“I’m glad you let me ride her, too.”

“You look nice together, both of you having black hair and golden skin.”

“Oh god. I’m glad I didn’t get any black riding clothes or we’d really be a pair.”

Victor laughed. “Not _yet_ , but now that I know how gorgeous a picture it would make, I’ll be sure to order you a set of black leathers.”

Yuuri had the most horrible thought. “You don’t have blue riding clothes, do you?” He couldn’t think of anything tackier, except maybe pink.

“Please, there are _limits,_ thank you.” Victor winked at him. “Ladies’ riding habits are usually more colorful and elaborate. Men who don’t really ride, just know how to stay on a horse, get fancy outfits that just have leather pants. Anyone, male or female, who plans to spend more than a couple hours in the saddle at a time has real riding leathers and breaks them in before hitting the road.”

“I don’t fit into any of those categories.”

“Not _yet_ , but I hope you enjoy riding enough to come with me to Schweiz in the winter, and to the seaside during the hottest part of the summer.”

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about that. I’ll do my best.”

“You’ll do fine. And Liebchen is yours as long as you want her. If you decide you want your own horse, we’ll pick one out together.”

Yuuri felt honored and loved. “Thank you, Vitya. I hope your mother would have been happy for me to ride her.”

“She would be. You’re exactly the kind of person that she liked.”

“Me? How?”

“You’re sweet, intuitive, and caring. She would have seen right away that you’re introverted and done everything possible to make you laugh without embarrassing you. She would have had a tea tasting party just for you once she knew your usual tea was different than ours, just so she could get to know you. The way you treat Makkachin would have endeared you to her instantly. And then there’s the fact that you love me. She’d be happy that you’re riding her horse with me on a summer morning.”

“Oh.” Yuuri was overwhelmed by his affection for Victor. “I love you.”

Victor smiled sweetly, adoringly even. “I love you, too, Yuuri. So much.”

They followed the trails through what was essentially an extension of the palace gardens that sprawled out to the north and east of the castle. It was a manicured park trying to look like it was nature, but still charming. They didn’t go toward the meadow or the path to the New Forest, knowing that unicorns had been spotted in the vicinity. Yuuri really enjoyed the fresh air and talking to Victor. Twice they saw other riders and waved, but didn’t interact. It was peaceful, quiet, and private. Periodically, Victor would point out a flower or tree and tell him the name of it.

After about an hour, Victor asked, “How’s your butt?”

“It hurts. Was it obvious?”

“Yep. Let’s head back. Like I said, it takes about two weeks to really get used to riding. Tomorrow will be worse because you’ll be sore. But it’s worth it.”

“I believe you. I want to be able to travel with you, so I’ll put up with the pain.”

“Thank you, _solnyshko_. After you’re good with the basics, I can teach you advanced riding skills if you want.”

“Since I have no idea what that would be, I’m not going to agree right now.” Yuuri laughed at Victor’s surprised face. “Just let me learn how to not fall off first!”

“Okay, that’s fair. Tomorrow we’ll work on going faster than a slow walk. You’ll need to learn how to ride a horse at every pace. We won’t likely ever need to gallop the girls because of danger or anything, but once you’re a solid rider, it’s actually fun to take off down the road to the forest. Horses like running, at least for short distances, and it’s good for them.”

“Um, alright.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’re most likely going to need a little help dismounting since you’re probably stiff. I’ll help you, you won’t fall.” 

At the entrance to the stables, Victor gracefully jumped off of Rose, and took both hers and Liebchen’s reins and led them into the cool, dark space. Yuuri watched as he greeted the new groom that was there with a hug and a smile, before handing him Rose’s reins.

“Yuuri, you get to meet Nikolas! I thought he was gone all week. Let me help you get down.”

Even with Victor’s coaching, he nearly landed on his ass, and had to be supported by his amused boyfriend. It was horribly embarrassing, but Victor claimed it wasn’t bad for the first time when learning to ride as an adult.

“Your muscles have no idea what’s going on,” he explained. “Don’t worry, I won’t have Phichit draw a picture of you almost falling.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Nikolas only spoke the bare minimum of the common tongue, but was happy to meet Yuuri anyway. Before they left the stable, he gave him a hug, and whispered in his ear, “Make him happy, yes?” He’d nodded, promising silently. Victor deserved to be happy.

Yuuri learned something very important about riding on his way back to Victor’s suite.

Stairs absolutely sucked.

“Don’t worry, _solnyshko_ , I’ll run us a hot bath when we get back to the room,” Victor promised with a sympathetic smile. “It’s only two flights, you’ll make it.”

The door to the suite was propped open for air when they arrived. Victor steered Yuuri straight into the bathroom to find a steaming hot bubble bath already waiting.

“Oh god, Alexei is amazing,” Yuuri groaned out in relief. “I don’t think I can bend to get my shoes and socks off.”

Victor chuckled. “I’ll get them for you.” He knelt and started untying the laces. “Brace your hands on my shoulders so you can lift your foot.” In the end, he completely undressed his beautiful, if sore, boyfriend and helped him into the tub. “Soak for a minute. I’ll go get stuff for us to put on afterward and come right back.”

The hot bath was pure heavenly bliss as far as Yuuri was concerned. Aside from his stiff butt and achy legs, he was sweaty and smelled a lot like a stable. Add to that their amorous adventures the night before and his nervous breakdown earlier, and he really felt a strong need to wash things away, physically and mentally. He’d leaned back with his eyes closed when he heard Victor come back in. “This is wonderful. It would be better with you, though.”

“Oh, then it’s a good thing I planned to join you.” Victor sank down into the bubbles and put his back against Yuuri’s chest. “After this I’ll give you a massage, it will help with your muscles getting too tight.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“You’re getting the most indulgent riding lessons ever.”

“I know, personal riding instructor that’s a prince, hot bath waiting for me, massage from the same gorgeous prince.”

“Lots of one on one attention.”

“I need it.”

“I don’t really think you’ll have any problems with riding. You’re strong and coordinated, you just need to get used to it.”

“I might fake doing badly so I can get more baths and massages, you never know.”

Victor laughed softly. “And here I thought I could trust you.”

“You can trust me to want to soak in hot water as often as possible.”

“You know, there’s a resort in Schweiz I’ve visited with Chris that has hot springs. We could go this winter. It’s neat to be outside in the swirling hot water while you’re surrounded by snow.”

Yuuri had the strangest sensation, like his brain was trying to fold itself into a new shape, and for a minute his vision blurred, but it passed. He shook his head. “That sounds really nice.” _I must be more tired than I thought._

“They have professionals to massage you there, it’s awesome.”

“Mm, that sounds amazing.” 

They soaked quietly until the water started to cool, then washed and got out. Victor dried Yuuri, even though he didn’t need to, just because he wanted to. His legs were feeling better after the soak, and he wasn’t really sure he needed a massage, but Victor insisted, and pulled down the blankets on the bed and had him lay on his stomach.

“I’m going to get a different oil from the bathroom, just a sec.” 

_Of course he has more than one kind of oil._ “Okay.” 

“This smells nice, I’m not sure what oils are blended into it, my herbalist just calls it ‘sensual’. I should warn you, I’m good at massages, and you’re really going to enjoy this.”

Yuuri laughed. “Thanks for the warning.”

Victor crawled onto the bed, and nudged Yuuri’s legs apart. This was a level of temptation he wasn’t sure if he’d ever experienced before. Yuuri’s ass was _gorgeous._ Dozens of sensual scenarios were playing out in his mind, but he knew Yuuri wasn’t ready for any of them. _Gods, it would be so easy to kiss my way up those thighs, rub him until he was relaxed, and lick him open, rim him until he comes._ There was no way he was mentioning that to his boyfriend. Even experienced men were squeamish about rimming, Yuuri would just think it was weird and dirty. Hell, the first time Chris had suggested it he’d been extremely skeptical about it being a good idea and borderline grossed out. Of course, after Chris had done it to him, he’d changed his opinion. Still, that wasn’t on the menu for Yuuri today.

“I’m going to work the backs of your thighs and your butt first, then I’ll have to you turn over so I can help you stretch, okay?”

“Okay.”

He poured oil into his palm, and rubbed his hands together to warm it. Yuuri’s thighs were rock-solid with muscle and oh-so sexy. Touching him was a pleasure. First he just spread the oil, then added more to his hands and began using his thumbs for pressure. Yuuri moaned softly. “It’s okay to make noise, I know it feels good.” 

Yuuri’d had no idea how good it would feel for Victor to rub his legs. He immediately knew that he’d pay a lot of money to have someone rub every inch of his body like this. _Maybe I can convince Victor to do it sometime, this is amazing._

Then Victor started kneading his sore ass, and Yuuri was pretty sure he’d murder someone to have this again. “Oh god, that feels so good,” he moaned. 

“You’re going to fake being sore for this, aren’t you?” 

With a soft chuckle, Yuuri replied, “Maybe.”

The massage was having two effects on Yuuri simultaneously: he was on the verge of sleep but also unbelievably aroused. _I love Victor’s hands on me, god, so much._ He had to adjust himself and heard Victor’s soft laugh. 

“It’s okay, it’s supposed to feel good,” Victor soothed, knowing Yuuri was going to be embarrassed. “Here, turn over, I’ll help you stretch.” He scooted back to the end of the bed. “Gods above, you look good.” 

“I do?” 

Victor couldn’t believe how shocked Yuuri sounded. “You’re on your back, with your legs spread, hard, naked, and looking at me.”

“Oh, um, I hadn’t pictured it that way.” He was fairly sure he was scarlet, but the way Victor was looking at him…

_I’m not meant for self-denial_ , Victor thought, crawling over Yuuri to kiss him thoroughly. “I really want to go down on you,” he whispered.

“I don’t know what that means,” Yuuri whispered back, embarrassed. 

_How can I say this elegantly?_ “I want to take you in my mouth, and bring you pleasure.” _Okay that sounded kinda stupid and romance-novel-ish._ “It feels really good.”

“Oh,” Yuuri whispered, for some reason afraid to raise his voice. “You want to?”

Victor nodded and kissed him softly. “I enjoy it, it’s good for both of us.” Suddenly, something clicked in his brain. “It’s completely normal, not weird at all.” He saw the little signs of relief on Yuuri’s face. “If you don’t like it, I’ll stop, but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it.”

“Okay.” _God, how could I possibly say no to something that sounds this good?_

“You’re going to love this,” Victor murmured before kissing him deeply. When Yuuri was clutching at his back, he kissed down his sensitive neck and chest, briefly teasing his nipples, then down his hard stomach. _God he’s so fucking hot._ He felt Yuuri tense a little when his breath flowed over the head of his cock. “Don’t worry, you can’t hurt me, and I love doing this. I really want to do this for you.” He didn’t wait for an answer before gently touching Yuuri with his tongue. “It’s okay for you to come in my mouth, it doesn’t bother me.”

_Oh god, why does that sound so hot? It should be gross, but god it’s not._ “Alright.”

Victor knew he shouldn’t tease Yuuri _too_ badly, he wanted him to enjoy it, not get frustrated, but he also didn't want him to come too soon. _One of the areas where my extensive experience will pay off_. He started slow, just stroking him with his tongue and teasing the head, listening to Yuuri moan and gasp. When he took him in his mouth, Yuuri called out softly, making his name sound like a prayer, as clichéd as that was. He worked him slowly, wanted to Yuuri to feel every sensation he could before he came. He took him deeper and deeper, until he could hear Yuuri almost sobbing. He looked up to see that he was biting his hand to stay quiet.

“It’s okay to make noise, _lyubov moya,_ I want to hear you. You can put your hands in my hair, I like that.”

“Oh god, Victor,” he whimpered, and tentatively stroked his fingers through his hair. “The way you look--” He dropped his head back on the pillow.

Yuuri looked thoroughly debauched. His face, neck and chest were flushed, there were tears on his eye lashes, and he was clearly an inch from coming. “You look so fucking gorgeous.” He resumed his sweet torture, and felt Yuuri’s fingers tighten in his hair. He didn’t mind a little tug on his hair when he was giving head. He was sure Yuuri wouldn’t yank on it or force his head down, those things wouldn’t even occur to him (thank the gods). He enjoyed that Yuuri couldn’t keep his hips still when he was close, and took him as deep as he could to push him over the edge. 

“Victor, oh _god--”_

_There it is,_ Victor congratulated himself seconds before his mouth was filled. He was _good_ at oral sex, though, so he’d timed it so Yuuri came in the back of his throat. No one actually _liked_ the taste of semen, and that was one very nice way to minimize it. He held Yuuri in his mouth until he’d started to relax before gently releasing him. He kissed his way up his limp body to gently touch his lips. “Love you.”

“Oh, oh my god, Victor,” Yuuri gasped out before wrapping heavy arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.

_Oh good, he’ll kiss me after I swallow._ Victor was happy to be kissed for a few moments before Yuuri released him, breathless. “I don’t know how to describe that. Thank you.”

Victor chuckled softly. “You’re quite welcome.” He stretched out beside a very languid Yuuri. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Do you – I don’t – I can--”

He stopped him with a finger on his lips. “No. You’re about five seconds from passing out. Take a nap, _solnyshko_ , I can wait.”

“If you’re sure--” Yuuri began before being interrupted by an enormous yawn. Between their late night, his nervous breakdown earlier, his riding lesson, the bath, the massage, and the amazing sex, he was wiped out. 

“Sleep.” Victor pulled Yuuri close. “Let me just hold you for a little while.”

“Mm. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

…

…

Visual Aids!  
…

Alexei’s appearance is based on skater Jason Brown. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/43088925790/in/dateposted-public/)

…

Here’s a nice picture of Jason (I might have a crush on him):

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/43088928830/in/dateposted-public/)

…

Jason just got his hair cut a couple weeks ago and looks pretty darned cute! Should Alexei cut his hair?

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sailorchiron/43088960630/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I REALLY exaggerated the discomfort of learning to ride for comedic effect and so that I could get Yuuri and Victor into bed naked. Sue me.
> 
> In addition to my Chris/Tristan side fics, I'm plotting a young Chris/Victor plot-what-plot one-shot. So there's that. I really want to write that long hair.


	10. In which we learn that unicorns struggle with personal space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY I'VE BEEN GONE FOR SO LONG GOMEN NASAI!!!! Okay, so I moved to a new house, and it's been an ordeal. I've also been crazy busy at work, my family lives in California now, so I had to go visit them for Thanksgiving, and did I mention that moving is a giant pain in the ass? Anyway, here is my next installment! The next 4 weeks are a race to get IEPs done before winter break, so I'll be swamped with work, so updates might be limited. Thanks for reading!

The gentle sensation of fingers tenderly running through his hair teased Yuuri into consciousness, and he hummed happily. When the response was a soft chuckle, he opened his eyes.

“Good afternoon, sleepy head,” Victor teased.

At some point during his nap, his pillow had been replaced with Victor’s leg. Which was wearing pants.

“Oh, you’re dressed? How long have you been up?” Sitting up really didn’t sound like a good idea so he just rolled onto his back.

“I was wrong, I did have to give audiences today. You slept the entire afternoon.” Victor was wearing that little smile he reserved just for Yuuri when he did something annoying but he somehow thought it was cute. “You must have needed rest. Do you want to get up and have tea? You should probably eat since you slept through lunch and you know how dinner will go.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Can I put on your robe?”

“Of course.” Victor scooted off the bed to get it out of the wardrobe. “I need a new one, this one is getting kind of ragged.”

“It’s so soft, though.”

“It’s a ridiculously expensive knitted fabric, made from the wool of a specific goat. It’s worth every penny.”

“I want a sweater made from this, but not in sky blue.”

“I’ll be happy to get you one. There’s one particular weaver who makes things for me, I’ll let her know you want a sweater. What color do you want? That particular blue is magically created.”

“I don’t know, surprise me. Just not pink.”

“What’s your problem with pink?” Victor teased.

Yuuri got out of bed and allowed Victor to help him into it like he was an emperor donning an ermine cape. “Pink is just not me. You’d look really pretty in pink.”

“I have a soft pink silk shirt that I pair with grey trousers. I’ll wear it tonight.”

He smiled and kissed Victor’s smiling lips. “You’ll look beautiful, I can’t wait to see it.” 

Tea and sandwiches were waiting in the sitting room, along with a plate of a pastry of some kind. Yuuri watched with amusement as Victor poured the tea. “Why do you always pour the tea? You’re the Prince. You have servants. And a boyfriend.”

Victor chuckled. “Because my mom always poured tea, because she believed in being a good hostess.”

“Oh. That makes sense. I know that we drink tea in my homeland, I’ll pour tea for you if we ever get to go there.”

“I’ll look forward to it.” Victor stirred milk and sugar into his tea. “We have been gifted with cookies to go with our sandwiches. Alexei must have stolen them for us.”

“Cookies?”

“For some reason, Cook thinks only children like cookies. I _love_ cookies.” He held out the plate for Yuuri to take one. “These are sugar cookies, and I bet they’re a little lemony, the best kind.”

Yuuri nibbled on the sweet treat, and decided that they definitely qualified as an adult food. “These are delicious.”

“You can make cookies with a lot of different ingredients. I actually know how to bake cookies, one night when Chris and I were super bored Mom and Aunt Adela took us to the kitchen and taught us how to make them. Sometimes when I visit Chris we’ll sneak down to the kitchen in the middle of the night and make them with chunks of chocolate.”

“I need those.”

“Consider it done, when we visit Schweiz this winter, we’ll make cookies.”

Dinner was…dinner.

Never before did Yuuri think the word ‘dinner’ could be synonymous with ‘wretched,’ but now he knew better.

Yuri was there, with his boiled-crab-colored face and a scowl that said ‘draw attention to it and you die’ very clearly. He was clearly miserable and misery clearly made Yuri even more of a shithead. With the wall-of-surliness between them, Yuuri couldn’t chat with Mila or Chris, so he did his best to amuse Victor, who was, in turn, trying to amuse him. The food was truly abysmal, not as bad as the first dinner Yuuri had experienced, but he’d been informed that nothing could be that bad. Nothing had a real flavor, and the meat was bone-dry. Even Victor had no idea what their goal was with the dessert, it just tasted like sugar.

It was after dinner that things got interesting.

The ballroom was set up for dancing, and champagne was already circulating when they arrived. Yuuri noticed an air of anticipation among the courtiers. “Victor, what’s going on?”

“I actually don’t know,” he answered, just as baffled. 

The dancing began with one of those boring, stately pieces, and the group just watched as a few older people went out onto the floor. More people were watching than dancing, and Victor frowned.

“Chris, do you know what’s up?”

He shook his head. “No, did someone interesting show up at audiences?”

“No, I just arbitrated a dispute between two women who were claiming ownership over an embroidery stitch and a bunch of courtiers introduced their country relations who are here for the first time.”

Mila professed herself just as confused. Yuri had bailed on court as soon as he’d looked in the doors.

The reason for all of the excitement walked in the door a moment later.

Yuuri watched with great interest as a _stunning_ young woman flanked by a pair of knights entered the ballroom. She had dusky skin that was allowed to glow by the celestial blue of her gown; her black hair was swept back in an elegant chignon and golden flowers set with crystals winked in the raven mass. A diadem of gold crossed her forehead, and a glittering crystal sparkled over what mystics would call the third eye. A cape of the sheerest blue cascaded from her shoulders, held in place with a chain of the finest, daintiest gold flowers and leaves across her chest. She was a vision of the summer sunset. The entire ballroom hushed as she looked around.

Surprisingly, it was Mila who broke the semi-silence. “Sara! When did you get here?” She rushed to greet the smiling woman by the door. 

Victor chuckled softly. “They adore each other. I’d be so happy to see them together.” He took Yuuri’s hand. “Come meet Sara Crispino, one of the most famous sorceresses in the world. Don’t be surprised if her brother growls at you. He’s kind of psycho about protecting her from men. Joke’s on him, I think she’s going to fall in love with Mila.”

“I don’t know if we’d survive that,” Chris commented from behind them. “That would be a lethal level of sass for one relationship.”

“They’d drive Yuri crazy,” Victor agreed. “But wouldn’t their wedding be beautiful?”

Sara had already gathered quite a crowd when they reached her. One of the knights was clearly her twin, he had the same dark skin and general features, but the look on his face was an even bigger ‘fuck off’ than Yuri usually wore. The other was clearly not from the same country, he was blond and fair skinned, and looked like he was about to burst with excitement. Yuuri wondered who he was, then remembered Chris mentioning that he’d been introduced during Victor’s audiences the other day. “Her brother is Michele, right? And the other knight is Emil Nekola?”

“Good memory. Yes. I remember him now.”

“Watch him, he’s head over heels for Mickey.”

“It looks like he’s head over heels for Sara, Chris.”

“No, wait ‘til you see him with Mickey. He’s even _more_ excited about life.”

When the courtiers buzzing around Sara realized who they were blocking, they bowed themselves out of the way with apologies. Victor smiled and waved them away. He hadn’t even had a chance to get annoyed yet.

“Victor! Christophe!” 

Victor let go of Yuuri’s hand to accept an enthusiastic hug from the mage, who weighed next to nothing after his recent experience carrying Yuuri up two flights of stairs. His arms were empty a moment later as Sara flung herself at Chris. He nudged his boyfriend to look at Michele. He looked like he was going to explode. “See? He knows just how gay Chris and I are, and he’s _still_ about to have a stroke that she’s talking to men.”

“That’s not a healthy color for a human face,” Yuuri agreed.

“Victor, who is this?” Sara asked, curiosity all over her pretty face. Up close, Yuuri could see that her eyes were a very startling bright purple. 

“My true love, Yuuri. We have a story to tell you.”

“True love?” Sara looked from Yuuri to Victor and then back again. “As in, magical true love?”

“Victor kissed me awake.” Yuuri couldn’t help that his eyes slid away from the sorceress to his boyfriend. “I don’t remember anything from my old life.”

“Holy fuck,” she breathed out. “I haven’t seen a genuine sleeping spell before. And with amnesia? This is amazing.”

“He’s not a case study, Sara,” Victor quipped. 

She laughed. “Oh, sorry. It’s nice to meet you, Yuuri.” She gave him a warm hug. 

Over her shoulder, Yuuri watched the scariest rage cross onto her brother’s face. “Ah, um, Sara, is your brother okay?”

She released him to turn around. “Michele Crispino, what is your problem? Come say hello to our _host_ and his friends and chill the fuck out.”

Michele and Emil relaxed their guard on the pretty sorceress. “Yuuri, this is my twin, Mickey, and this is Emil, who’s been traveling with us.”

Emil gave Yuuri a hug that said very clearly ‘we’re totes bros’ whereas Michele shook his hand like he’d been offered a putrid snake carcass not a perfectly clean human appendage. Yuuri noticed, more than anything, that Mila seemed to glow. _Victor’s right, they should be together._

“So tell me more about this adventure, Victor, I have to hear everything,” Sara demanded, taking Victor’s arm and steering him away from the door. “You too, Yuuri, I need to know everything!”

As he was turning to follow Victor and Sara, he saw Emil ask Mickey to dance. The other man looked like he’d been smacked in the back of the head with a board, and didn’t seem capable of saying no. Yuuri met Chris’s eyes and nodded. Chris winked. 

“We should go out in the gardens to talk,” Chris suggested. 

“Yes, of course,” Sara agreed, taking the champagne Victor offered her. “We do have to dance tonight, though, this dress is designed for looking fabulous on the dance floor.”

“You’re in for a treat, then, because Chris’s boyfriend is a superb dancer, so you’ll have even more people to make your dress look amazing as you twirl around the floor.” Victor laughed when Sara gaped. “Yep, he has a boyfriend.”

“No, _you,_ Christophe Giacometti, have a _boyfriend?”_

The blond laughed. “Yes, for almost three years.”

Sara was outraged. _“Three years?_ I cannot believe this. How have you kept this a secret?”

“I actually don’t know,” Chris laughed. “You’re so nosy I’m surprised you haven’t gotten it out of one of us.”

She, very inelegantly, stuck her tongue out at Chris.

“In all seriousness, only Victor knew until this summer. We’ve kind of thrown caution to the wind while we’ve been here.”

“When do I get to meet him?”

Chris smiled. “8:00.”

“Oh good!” 

It was a little cloudy, so the sunset was spectacular, and they all paused a moment to appreciate display before wandering slowly toward the roses. Yuuri was surprised by how familiar everyone seemed with Sara, since she looked like she was much younger than any of them and couldn’t have been traveling on her own with just her twin for very long. He could see why Michele would want to protect her, she was a combination of bubbly, confident, and beautiful that was irresistible to pretty much everyone, for romance or otherwise. 

“So Victor, tell me your story, I’m _dying_ here.” 

“Well,” Victor began before sipping his champagne. “A few days ago I was sulking and went for a ride, and ended up in the Old Forest. Don’t scold me, everyone already has.” The group laughed. “There was a white glow between the trees, and went to investigate, and it turned out to be a frozen pond with an altar in the middle. Chris and I went and he verified that I was not nuts, and then we went back with skates because that’s the smart way to get to the middle of a frozen pond.”

“We were attacked by unicorns, don’t forget that part.”

Sara’s eyes widened. “Unicorns were willing to approach the two of you?”

“They were really determined to guard Yuuri. Who was in the middle of the pond.” Victor couldn’t help but smile at his beloved. “The altar was under a protective spell, but Chris broke it with unicorn hair. I kissed him, and the rest is history.”

“That is _fascinating,”_ Sara breathed. “And you don’t remember anything, Yuuri?”

He sighed. “A few bits and pieces, but no, nothing about who I am, where I’m from, or what my life was like. I know really useful things like that I drink tea and sit on the floor, but not how to speak my own language or if I have parents.”

“Huh.” Sara thought for a moment while she sipped her champagne. “Do you want to remember your past?”

Yuuri nodded. “I have to know who I am before I can make any promises to Victor.”

“Logical. I’m going to have to ponder this. I take it you’re hoping I can unravel the spell so you get your memories back?”

“Please,” Victor entreated. “And maybe why he was placed on the forest for me to find.”

“The altar was covered with blue roses,” Chris interjected. “You know how Victor feels about blue roses.”

“That definitely tells me you were intended for Victor, Yuuri.” She looked up for a moment. “Did anything else happen with the unicorns?”

“They attacked me all three times I went to the pond, but not very successfully.”

“They’re really stupid,” Sara agreed.

“There were unicorns in the meadow the other day. I think they’re following me.”

“Whoa, that close to civilization? That’s really rare. I have one or two contacts among the magical creatures in this realm, I’ll see if they’ve heard anything about what the unicorns are doing. If they even know, gods they’re stupid. There’s an unwritten rule about uncanny creatures. They can be beautiful, magical, or intelligent, but only two of the three. Unicorns are ‘beautiful’ and ‘magical’ but definitely not intelligent.”

“I hope you can work on the spell, Sara.” 

“There are tons of historical accounts of sleeping spells in the restricted section of the university library,” she replied. “I can spend some time over there, I have unlimited permissions.”

“Would you and your gallant knights like to join us at my aunt’s party Saturday?” Victor gestured to the rest of the group. “You’re the ‘us’ by the way. Tristan too.”

“Evgenia? Of course! I’ll do fireworks for her.”

They bells chimed 8:00 and Chris smiled. “Here comes Tristan.” He left the group to greet his beau with a sweet kiss. 

“Okay, that’s true love if ever I’ve seen it,” Sara commented. “Stars aligned to bring them together. I can tell from their auras that they would have been a true-love-match no matter what, but someone put a charm on them when they were a lot younger to make sure they met.”

“Chris will be so happy to hear that. He’s always thought it was love at first sight between them.”

“It definitely was. Not even the magically-created love that happens when a hero rescues a princess or when a prince kisses a princess to wake her.” She looked over Victor and Yuuri. “You two have it overlaid, true-love and magically-created love. You must be drowning in feels.”

Victor laughed. “Pretty much.”

Yuuri stared at the sorceress. “Does that mean…Victor won’t stop loving me? The magic won’t wear off?”

“Of course not,” Victor answered, kissing his hair.

“No, that’s a really valid concern,” Sara argued. “The problem with the magically-created love is that it _does_ wear off, usually before the first anniversary. If the couple under the spell haven’t fallen in love, there’s really nothing binding them together after that. And let me tell you, that is _drama.”_ She shook her head. “Unless I’m very mistaken, you were going to fall in love at first sight no matter what. If you fall out of love, it’s because of your relationship changing, not because of magic.”

“Who’s falling out of love?” Chris asked as he and Tristan joined the group. “Not Victor and Yuuri, gods, have you seen the way they look at each other?”

Mila laughed. “Pot calling kettle, Giacometti.”

Chris chuckled. “Sara, allow me to introduce you to the love of my life, Tristan Morgenlied. Tristan, Sara Crispino.”

Tristan gracefully bowed over her hand. “I’ve seen you from afar dozens of times, it’s lovely to finally meet you.”

“Lovely to meet you as well! I can’t believe that not only Chris, but Victor _and_ Mila have kept you a secret for almost three years.”

“I didn’t know until a few days ago!” Mila defended. “I still thought those two were sleeping together!” 

“I guess you were doing a good job of making it look like you were still sleeping with Victor.” Tristan smiled ruefully. “That was the goal, right?”

Chris looked pained, and pulled Tristan close. Sara picked up on the new mood right away and immediately dispelled it. 

“I refuse to let anyone be sad tonight! We have plenty of champagne, I’m going to dance with every single one of you, and we’ll see how angry Mickey gets when I talk to men.” She looked at Mila and winked. “Where did he go?”

“Emil asked him to dance,” Yuuri answered.

She shrieked. “FINALLY! He’s been pining over Mickey all spring.”

“I wonder how Mickey feels about it?” Victor laughed. 

“He’s smitten. I’d like to say it’s my magical twin powers at work, but I’ve just caught him staring at Emil’s ass.”

The band was in full swing when they went back to the ballroom, and even with the throng of dancers taking up most of the floor, Sara attracted a crowd of devoted followers that just wanted a tiny bit of her attention. She smiled and laughed with all of them, but kept an eye on Yuuri and Victor. She was sure there was something she was missing about the spell on them. It was almost like the spell was in a foreign magical language.

“I’m sorry we got distracted and I didn’t teach you any new dances, _solnyshko,”_ Victor apologized. 

“I don’t know, I think our time was well spent,” he teased, thinking about the amazing precurser to his nap.

“You may be right,” he murmured suggestively, and laughed softly when Yuuri blushed.

“I’d like to return the favor,” Yuuri whispered.

Victor suppressed a groan. “I won’t argue with that.”

“I was about to ask what you were whispering about, but I figured it out from the look on Yuuri’s face.”

They looked up to see that Chris had joined them. “Hush,” Victor admonished, but was smiling so it had no bite.

“Sara just told me that Tristan really is my true love,” he stated softly. “We really were meant to be. I can’t tell you how happy I am.” He smiled when he felt his beloved wrap his arms around him from behind. “It was really love at first sight.”

“Yuuri is mine,” Victor answered with a smile. “Now we know why we couldn’t fall in love with each other.”

“You four are getting decidedly maudlin, and it must stop,” Sara announced as she joined them. “Tristan, you’re supposed to be quite the dancer, I demand that you dance with me right now.”

The tall man laughed. “Of course, my dear.” Sara took his hand and they joined the swirling masses. 

Victor and Chris were eyeing them critically. “That dress really is perfect for dancing,” the blond prince commented.

“It really is. Excellent fashion choice.”

Yuuri raised an eyebrow. “I know Victor was obsessed with clothes, I didn’t know you were, too, Chris.”

“I’m not obsessed!”

Chris laughed. “Victor, you’re obsessed.” He looked at Yuuri. “You should see some of his formal wear. It’s gorgeous and elegant, but borders on over-the-top.”

“And yours is all cut to show off your ass.”

“And my chest, thank you.”

Yuuri laughed a little awkwardly. “Now I hope none of the clothes you got me are glittery or show off my butt.”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t put you in anything revealing or ridiculous, unlike someone that always wants to look like he’s ready to drag you off to bed.”

“I don’t really have anyway to defend myself from that one,” Chris laughed. “I’ve pulled out all of my really seductive things for this trip since they’re cooler for the hot weather, but I’ve seriously toned down what I wear at home. Even though no one knows _who_ I’m dating, it’s pretty clear to everyone at court that I’m not sleeping around anymore, so I must be with _someone._ I don’t really want to look like a sex fiend anymore.”

Victor smiled and shoved his friend gently. “That’s cute. I don’t believe you.”

“Shut up.” 

During a pause in the dancing while the band was taking a break, Victor taught Yuuri how to lead a waltz. “It’s easy, it’s just the reverse of what you already know.” Luckily, it really _was_ easy, and Yuuri felt confident enough to take Sara on the dance floor when she insisted.

“So, Yuuri, what do you like about Rus?”

He was surprised by the question. “It’s very pretty, especially the gardens. Most of the people I’ve met have been nice, and, well, there’s Victor.”

Sara laughed. “Being with someone you love does make a strange place seem better.”

“It’s hard to say what I like or don’t like, since I don’t have a comparison from my past. The weather is nice, but is that because I like this weather, or is it because where I’m from is like this, or what? I know the food is completely different, but I can’t say _why_ it’s different.” Yuuri shook his head. “I don’t know if I actually like it here, or if it’s just the only thing I know.”

“That makes it hard to commit, doesn’t it?” Sara asked, but it wasn’t really a question. “Right now, you’re happy, but you don’t know if you would still be happy if you remembered your life.”

“I know that I love Victor, and I don’t think I could stop if I tried. I know he loves me. But there are so many things I don’t know. What if I marry Victor and 10 years from now, I suddenly remember that I was already married, or was in line for a throne that I’m neglecting, or if I’ve left my family scrambling for a way to survive without my help? I need to know now, before I let this be my forever, that I’m free to let it _be_ my forever.”

“That’s very sensible,” she agreed. “I have to warn you, though, that a lot of times the reason you’re part of a spell like this is because of a curse. You may not be able to go back to your homeland. Or, the trade-off for recovering the memories of your past is losing what has happened since you woke. And there is always the chance that when you remember your past, that it will change your feelings for Victor. Not likely, since you’re clearly a true-love-match, but it is possible.”

“I have to know,” Yuuri insisted. “I can’t give myself to Victor if I don’t know who I am.”

“I can understand that.” Sara smiled. “You’re a natural dancer, Yuuri. I would never know that you hadn’t danced before.” 

“Oh, thank you,” he answered with a smile. “I’ve discovered that I really enjoy it. I want to learn more dances.” 

“I’m sure Victor and Chris can teach you a bunch of dances, they’re usually the stars of the ballroom.” She looked over Yuuri’s shoulder. “Oh lord and lady, I think Mickey is going to kiss Emil.” Yuuri watched Sara’s expressive face with amusement. A moment later, she looked crushed. “Damn it, he chickened out. Mark my words, Yuuri, those two _will_ be sleeping together by Midsummer.” 

With an awkward laugh, Yuuri gracefully bowed over Sara’s hand as the dance ended. “Um, okay.”

“No really, Emil would be so good for Mickey,” Sara explained. “I don’t think my brother has a reason to exist outside of protecting me, and that’s not healthy. He needs to remember that he’s his own person, with his own needs and desires, and that we’re not one entity. He’s become _obsessed_ with me and it needs to stop. That’s the whole reason I asked Emil to travel with us when we met last year. Mickey needs chill the fuck out and I think getting laid will be a really good start.”

Not sure what to say, Yuuri just nodded and escorted the pretty mage from the floor. Victor was smiling at him from where he was standing near a garden door, and he steared Sara that direction. He was struck again by just how beautiful Victor really was, it was almost ridiculous, and pink was, indeed, a good color for him. He couldn’t help but smile as they grew closer to each other, and he’d almost forgotten he was with Sara as he got lost in those blue eyes. 

“You looked beautiful dancing together!” Victor kissed Sara’s cheek before pulling Yuuri close. “The next dance is mine, though.”

“You need to teach him some other ones, Victor,” the sorceress admonished. “Then you can dance with him more.”

“We keep getting distracted,” he complained.

“They keep getting distracted by each other,” Chris clarified as he joined them, kissing Sara’s cheek. “You did look lovely together.”

“It’s a little overwhelming how many things I need to learn,” Yuuri commented, clearly uncomfortable. “Riding, dancing, court etiquette, how magic works, I don’t know how to do all of it.”

Victor wrapped his arms around his beloved and squeezed him tight. “You’re doing fine, _solnyshko_ , I know it’s a lot. Don’t worry about court etiquette and magic, no one really understands those.”

“You’re starting to attract attention,” Mila warned. 

Yuuri straightened and forced a smile. “I don’t want to make a scene.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Victor reassured him, then kissed him very gently. “I love you, Yuuri, everything will be fine.”

Pulling himself together with a force of will, Yuuri nodded and took Victor’s hand. “I’m okay.”

“I said no one was going to be sad tonight, and I meant it!” Sara declared, drawing laughter from all of them, even Yuuri. “Now, I think it’s high time we had more champagne.”

Several times throughout the night, Yuuri got the sensation that he was being watched, and each time, he noticed that Sara was peering at him with a look of intense concentration on her pretty face. Each time she was caught, she’d wink at him, but it made Yuuri wonder what about him was so interesting. _It has to be the spell, she’s trying to figure it out. I wonder what I look like to a sorceress? What does magic even look like?_ He was pretty sure he would dissolve into tears if he stopped to think about how weird that was, so tried to focus on not drinking too much champagne.

Victor wasn’t sure what time it was when he found himself alone in the gardens with Yuuri. Sara was still holding court in the ballroom, he’d lost track of Chris and Tristan a little while ago, and he was sure Mila had been with them just a moment before. But somehow, he was alone with his love in the cool of night, and the sounds from the party inside were muffled by the distance.

“Would you like to go sit down, _solnyshko?”_

“God, yes. I think the band played more waltzes just to show off Sara’s new dress, I feel like I’ve danced ten times as much tonight.”

“That’s as good an explanation as any, I’m tired too,” Victor laughed. “It really is an amazing dress, though. That color of blue would look really nice on you. I’d like to see you with flowers in your hair, too.”

Yuuri chuckled as they rounded the hedge to find the gazebo empty. “Only if you’re wearing flowers.”

“Of course.” Victor dropped onto the padded bench.

Settling happily on the bench, Yuuri sighed. “Sara asked me what I liked about Rus. I should have mentioned sitting after dancing for hours.”

“I think that’s fair,” Victor laughed. He moved around until he was lounging comfortably. “Snuggle with me?”

“You really didn’t have to ask,” Yuuri teased, and fitted himself into Victor’s embrace. “I love you so much, Victor.”

“I love you more than I can express.” 

They were quiet for a few moments, just happy to relax together. “Sara keeps staring at me. I was wondering what I look like to a sorceress. What does magic even look like?”

“Alexei told me that magic looks like light or glowing smoke and can be different colors.”

“Isn’t that distracting?”

“They can do something to see the magic or not see it.”

“How even?”

“No clue.” He kissed the top of Yuuri’s head. “I asked Alexei if he wanted to use his magic for a job now that he’s literate in two languages and is way better at math than I am, and he said he’d miss me too much, and that he’s happy being my valet. He doesn’t seem to think his magic is anything special, but I swear to all the gods, the way he just _knows_ what I need is worth a million rubles.”

Yuuri laughed softly. “I like Alexei.”

“I love him as much as I love Chris. I don’t know what I would have done without the two of them after my mom died.”

“Was Chris here when it happened?”

“No, but as soon as I told him, he and Aunt Adela came to Rus.”

“Chris is a good person. I like him, even if his goal seems to be to embarrass me.”

Victor laughed. “He’s such a dork. When you get to know him better, you’ll like him even more. His public persona of a flighty playboy covers up a really kind man with a heart of gold. Not that he wasn’t extremely horny and in bed with everyone before he met Tristan, because he was. But it’s part of the court game.”

“How will that work when he’s a king, though?”

“Between you and me, and absolutely no one else, he’s not going to be King of Schweiz. He’s giving up the throne to his brother. Partially because the King can’t marry a servant, and partially because he’d be a shitty ruler.”

“Oh. Tristan doesn’t know?”

“Huh-uh. Chris isn’t going to tell him until he’s finalized it with his parents. Tristan would feel too guilty if he knew. He doesn’t know that Chris is way too self-indulgent to be King, he sees him in a much more flattering light than the rest of us. Including Chris.”

They were quiet for a few moments before Yuuri had to ask Victor a very important question. “Victor, what will happen if I get my memories back, and I’m a different person? What if I’m horrible and you’re stuck still loving a monster?”

“Oh, Yuuri, don’t worry about something like that,” Victor reassured him. “I don’t think that’s possible. If the only thing holding us together was the magical love, maybe, but I don’t think my true love would be someone I can’t stand, that goes against all logic.” He had a dreadful thought. “What if…you don’t love me anymore?” _Oh gods. Oh, holy fuck._

Yuuri held him tight. “It’s not possible. You’re my true love. I’ll love you no matter what, Victor, there’s no way I could stop, not even if I wanted to.”

Victor really wanted to ask which Yuuri would choose, his memories or their relationship, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. “I love you so much Yuuri. I want you to know who you are. After that, we’ll work everything out. I don’t think I can live without you.”

“I can’t either,” Yuuri whispered. _Please, god, let me stay with Victor._

“Let’s not worry about it tonight, alright? It’s beautiful out here, we’re all alone, and I just want to enjoy loving you.” 

“Enjoy being loved by me, too,” Yuuri answered with a smile in his voice, and he moved so that they could kiss. Predictably, the sweet, loving kiss turned passionate moments later. 

“Yuuri,” Victor groaned, pulling the other man into his lap. “I never stop wanting you.” 

“God, Victor,” Yuuri whispered. “The things you say to me.” He repositioned himself to straddle Victor’s thighs. “I always want you, too.” He decided kissing the prince was the perfect way to show it. He was already hard and could feel that Victor was too.

“How comfortable are you with staying out here?” Victor was already unbuttoning Yuuri’s waistcoat.

“Very comfortable,” he answered, breathless. “Do you want me to do what you did for me earlier?”

With a groan that was at least soul-deep, Victor nodded. “Yes, gods, yes.” 

“You’ll have to tell me what to do.” 

“I’ll show you. Here, put one of the cushions on the floor for your knees.”

_I guess I’m going to be on my knees._ “Okay.” He ignored Victor’s instruction for a moment to kiss him again and started on his buttons. “Can we take it slow?”

“Of course, _lyubov moya._ We probably shouldn’t get completely naked out here, just so you know.”

Yuuri laughed a little. “Okay, not completely naked. I still want to kiss your chest.”

“Fuck, yes, okay.” Gods, when Yuuri was confident it was so fucking sexy. He tipped his head back when warm lips touched his neck. “Yuuri…”

“You’re so fucking sexy, Victor,” Yuuri moaned as he exposed more skin. “I can’t even describe it.” Remembering that his boyfriend liked it, he teased his nipples with his tongue. “Do you like, um, do you want me to--”

“Yes, I like teeth, please.” He threaded his fingers through Yuuri’s hair. “Not too hard, yes, like _that,_ gods.”

Yuuri really wanted to keep kissing down Victor’s chest, and took a moment to drop the nearest cushion to the floor. When Victor spread his legs, he dropped down between them as Victor unfastened the last of his buttons. He followed the path of the open pink silk shirt, kissing and swiping with his tongue. The sounds Victor was making were intoxicating. Without thinking about it, Yuuri started on Victor’s trousers when he reached them. “Help me?”

“Gods, you’re driving me crazy, you’re so fucking hot, Yuuri.” He stood when Yuuri moved back and quickly pulled his pants down to his ankles. “I’m so hard, I need your mouth on me.”

“Show me what to do?”

“You really can’t mess up, don’t worry.” He gulped. “Um, use your hand to hold me still, gods this is awkward.”

Yuuri chuckled. “Want me to just try to copy what you did, and you can give me instructions as I go?”

“That’s so much less embarrassing, yes.”

“Do you want to, um, in my mouth?”

“You don’t have to swallow,” Victor quickly reassured him. He cupped Yuuri’s cheek. “It’s okay.”

Yuuri knew he was turning scarlet, but whispered, “I kind of want to.”

“Okay,” Victor moaned. _Gods, that’s hot. He actually WANTS to swallow._

Although the details were a little fuzzy from a long nap and champagne, Yuuri remembered that Victor had started with his tongue, so that was his first move. Steadying Victor’s cock with his right hand, he licked delicately across the head, and smiled a little when Victor gasped. He licked more firmly, and around the head, which he’d loved when Victor had done it. Yuuri really didn’t have the confidence or finesse to tease him, not yet, but certainly hoped to someday. 

“That’s so good, gods Yuuri, more like that.” _I’m not going to last long._ “Can you, mmmm, take me in now?” He needed that hot, wet suction.

“Tell me if I can do it better, or if you like something different.” 

“You’re fine, oooooooh, yes, like that.” Victor thought his eyes might roll back in his head. It had been what, a year since anyone had sucked him off? And gods, this was _Yuuri,_ who was doing it just because he wanted to, because he loved him. “When your jaw gets tired, it’s okay, pull off and use your tongue.”

_Oh, that’s a relief, I wondered what I should do._ He continued the bobbing motion for a little before he released Victor from his mouth and swiped his tongue across the head, tasting the evidence of his really obvious enjoyment. He wondered if Victor would like it, and tried teasing his tongue over his balls, just a little, thinking it sounded like something _he_ would like.

“Fuck, yes, gods.” Seeing that Yuuri might be willing to improvise, Victor decided to ask for something he’d really, _really_ missed. “Here, back up for just a second.” When Yuuri moved back, he scooted down, so that he was closer to the edge of the bench. “Give me your left hand?”

Mystified, Yuuri offered it to him. “What do you want?”

“If we were upstairs, I’d ask you to finger me, but since we’re not, take your thumb, and rub right _here.”_ He guided Yuuri’s hand to press the pad of his thumb to his entrance. “I love this.” He waited while Yuuri tried gently. “A little more firmly, yes, there. Gods.” 

Yuuri was surprised by the request, but kind of excited by it. He was still holding onto the tiny shred of fear that sex would hurt and be unpleasant, but that he’d do it for Victor…but Victor _liked_ to be touched there, so he was probably wrong about it? “Does it feel good?”

“Uh huh. It’s not the same to do it to yourself.”

Yuuri laughed softly. “Now I know that I agree with you.” Touching himself would never be good enough again, seriously. Happy to know that Victor was enjoying his touches, he resumed sucking him. The moans he got when he actually _sucked,_ rather than just moving up and down, were really gratifying. 

“Yuuri, I’m close,” Victor warned, just in case he wanted to stop. “You’re so good.” He was a fast learner, holy hell. 

Encouraged, Yuuri increased his efforts. He wanted Victor to come. He remembered that when he was close, Victor had started taking him deeper, so he tried to go down further, hoping he wouldn’t gag. 

“Fuck!” _Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods._ “More, please, like that, Yuuri, please--” 

Hearing Victor losing it like that was so exciting. Yuuri wanted to make Victor feel good, and was pretty amazed he was doing such a good job of it. He jumped a little when Victor put his hand on his chin. 

“I’m so close, if you don’t want to--”

But Yuuri wanted to. And when Victor came, he managed not to gag, and swallowed before he could really think about it. It was _not_ as hot as he had been thinking, but it also was _not_ as gross as he had feared. And his boyfriend obviously loved it, so it was completely worth it. He pulled off after a moment, remembering that Victor got too sensitive quickly after his orgasm. He couldn’t help but grin at the absolutely _wrecked_ man above him. “I take it I did okay?” Yuuri teased.

Victor laughed breathlessly. “Uh, yeah, that was okay.” He held out a hand. “Come up here.”

Yuuri stood carefully. “You should pull up your pants first, Victor.”

“You’re right. Help me stand up, I’m weak from my amazing orgasm.”

Laughing softly, he tugged on Victor’s hand to help him upright so he could clothe himself. He dropped back down on the bench like a lead weight and pulled Yuuri down with him. He knew how much Victor needed to be held after sex, and was happy to cuddle up to him.

“That, _lyubov moya,_ was fantastic. Thank you for offering.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I don’t know if ‘enjoy’ is a powerful enough word.” He tipped Yuuri’s chin up to kiss him deeply. “I love you so much, Yuuri.”

“I love you, too.” Yuuri was pretty sure that post-sex-snuggly-Victor was the cutest Victor. Followed closely by ridiculously-excited-by-something-mundane-Victor.

“Would you like me to return the favor, _solnyshko?_ I’d be happy to.”

Yuuri laughed, a little embarrassed. “I was concentrating so hard, I kind of lost my, um, yah.”

“Later then.”

Yuuri was starting to feel decidedly sleepy when a commotion took them both by surprise. “Victor?”

Victor was just as concerned. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I probably need to be involved. Here, check my clothes and hair to make sure I don’t look like I just had sex in the garden.”

With a laugh, Yuuri rebuttoned Victor’s shirt, since it was buttoned wrong, and then fastened his waistcoat. “Here, bend down so I can fix your hair.” He swept his fingers through the silky strands, and they went back into their intentional-but-looks-unintentional perfection. “What about me?”

Victor took a moment to run his fingers through Yuuri’s hair to smoothe it and buttoned his waistcoat. “You look presentable. Let’s go.”

When they rounded the hedge, there were a number of people on the garden terrace, talking loudly, and a small crowd and spilled onto the lawn in front of the night lily bed. More were coming out of the ballroom as they watched, and to Victor’s relief, none of them looked angry or injured. They were more excited than anything.

“Victor!”

He looked up to see Sara, flanked by Mickey and Emil, coming toward him quickly. “What’s going on?”

She looked annoyed and amused at the same time. “Someone spread a rumor than I’m doing fireworks tonight, and there was a mass exodus to the gardens.”

“Are you?”

“No, I don’t have anything set up for fireworks. I don’t know who started the rumor but I’d like to smack them.”

“Well at least no one died--” Victor began, when yelling started. “What now?”

As they looked out over the softly-lit gardens, couples and groups started hurrying to the doors, clearly excited and afraid at the same time. “What the everloving fuck is going on?”

“There are unicorns in the garden!”

Victor and Yuuri looked at each other, and back to the young lady that had announced it. “WHAT?!”

“I saw them! Near the hedge maze.” Unspoken was the ‘I don’t want anyone to know if I am or am not a virgin so I didn’t try to pet one but I really wanted to.’

Sara was clearly alarmed. “How on earth did they get in? And why would they be here?”

“Probably because of me,” Yuuri reminded her.

“Right. Should we go look?”

“Can you talk to unicorns, Sara?”

The mage nodded. “Yes. If we can get close to them, I can ask questions for you.”

Victor and Yuuri, accompanied by Sara and her knights, spent nearly an hour moving through the different parts of the gardens withough seeing a singe trace of white. They saw people who were either leaving the unicorns or looking for the unicorns, but never actually saw the damned unicorns.

Near the far wall, which was hell and gone from the palace, Victor spotted how they’d gotten in. “This is a maintenance gate for gardeners. From the other side of the wall, it’s essentially invisible. I can’t believe one of them would leave it unlocked.”

“They didn’t.” Sarah had produced a ball of light that was illuminating the entire area. “See this mark on the lock? That’s where one of the unicorns used its horn to open it.”

“Oh great.” 

“I can make it harder for them to open it with magic, but we should be sure there aren’t any of them still lost in the hedge maze. I need eyes in the sky.”

They all looked at her blankly and she rolled her eyes. “I’m calling an owl, what the fuck did you think I would do?”

“No comment.” Victor shared a look with the other men, and felt better when it was clear none of them had had a clue either.

Within minutes, the nearly silent predator Sara had summoned landed on the top of the open gate. Yuuri was fascinated, he wasn’t sure if he’d seen owls in his old life, but he certainly hadn’t here, and the bird was beautiful. 

“Oh, he’s so pretty,” Victor murmured. “I love barn owls.”

Sara motioned for them to be quiet, and looked into the animal’s huge eyes. After a moment, it took off silently, and Sara stood still, eyes closed. Apparently realizing he actually had a job to do, Mickey stood behind her in case she fell. They all watched, tense, as the mage was completely still. It was only about three minutes, but seemed longer, before she opened her eyes. 

“They’re all out of the gardens. Let’s close the gate and I’ll put a charm on the lock.”

“Did the owl have any idea where they went?”

She looked at Yuuri. “I was looking through his eyes while he was flying. Unicorns stick out like a sore thumb against the landscape, so they’re easy to track, even without an owl’s night vision. But there was no trace of them, they must have all made it back to the New Forest.” She shook her head. “I usually always have treats for the animals that help me, I felt bad that I didn’t have anything for him. He was happy to help, though, because he was bored.”

“Owls get bored, who knew.” Victor looked at the gate. “The lock goes on the outside, the gate opens from the bridle path.”

Sara nodded. “That’s fine, Mickey and Emil can come with me, and we’ll walk back around.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll send a carriage around for you. It’s almost a mile from the kitchen gate to this spot if you follow the path. Your dancing shoes are not up to that challenge.”

“I appreciate it.” She stepped through the door, followed by her two knights. “After this I’ll probably fall directly into bed. Can we chat over breakfast?”

“Of course.” Victor handed her the heavy lock and pushed the door shut. “Let’s go find someone to rescue them from the path.”

Instead of heading toward the palace, Victor went directly toward the kitchen gate, and told the guards what had happened, and they took it from there. “Let’s go to bed, Yuuri. It’s midnight, that’s late enough.”

Alexei was leaving the room when they arrived. “I’m going to get snacks, do you want anything?”

“Anything would be great, I’m starving.” 

Yuuri laughed at how dramatic his boyfriend was. “Can we have lemonade? I’ve kind of gotten addicted to it.”

“Food and lemonade are on the way. Please don’t have sex in the sitting room while I’m gone. It’s not sanitary.”

They dressed in lounging clothes, but with shorts instead of long pants as the night was warm. Makkachin was stretched out on the cool hearth tiles and just slapped his tail against the floor when they walked in rather than getting up. Alexei was back in short order with a wealth of food that was new to Yuuri.

“What is this? You didn’t have to get this much food!” Victor looked concerned. “Did you have to wake someone up?” He hated inconveniencing people on staff. It was after midnight.

“Nope, there’s a card game going on in the kitchen that looks pretty intense, so people are up making food. Absolutely the entire staff is going to have hangovers tomorrow. And it looks like Cook might be taking home a small fortune.”

“Hah, he always loses it all at the end. Why aren’t you playing? You usually win.”

“I already took 300 rubles off of my fellow staff members, and decided to call it a night, but got hungry after I took a bath.”

“Is that a lot? I don’t know about money here.”

“It’s a pretty tidy sum, yes.” Alexei dished up food for Yuuri. “Half the time I end up loaning my winnings back to their former owners.”

Yuuri looked at his plate with interest. “What is this? It smells great.”

“Potato pancakes with sour cream, an easy comfort food, I can actually make these myself. I didn’t, but I could.” Alexei handed Victor a plate. “I also have apple dumplings that I somehow managed to acquire even though my exgirlfriend was making them and she wants me dead, and some fried ham just for good measure.”

“Which exgirlfriend?”

“Danya. It still hurts to look at her.” He smiled at Yuuri’s uncomfortable face. “We had a serious difference in opinion about our future together. She’d never actually told me she expected me to leave Victor and move out to her family farm in the country, but that was her plan for the entire year we were together. I found out about her plan when she said something like, ‘well, in a couple years when we move to the farm,’ when we were talking, and was pretty shocked.” Alexei looked sad. “She said she felt like I’d led her on, but I don’t know how, she never told me she wanted to move back to the country or that she expected me to. I loved her, but I didn’t want to give up the life I have here to be a farmer.”

“You’d never survive in the country.”

“I know, right? I’m a city boy, through and through.”

“You don’t even like camping.”

“Gods, I don’t know how you and Chris can stand it.”

Yuuri laughed a little. “I wonder if I like camping?”

“Do you like bugs in your food? Sleeping on rocks? Being covered in dirt? Then you don’t like camping.” He laughed along with Yuuri and Victor. “Oh, and bug bites. Bug bites everywhere.”

“You know, Alexei, maybe you should spend your winnings on something for yourself. You always hang onto the money, and you have to have plenty saved up. Buy a horse or something.”

The valet cracked up. “Oh, yes, a horse. What, pray tell, would I do with a _horse?”_

“Have your own to ride when we travel.”

“So, like, four times a year, I’d see this animal? No, Victor, a horse is not a practical gift to myself.” He looked at Yuuri. “I also really don’t like riding. I’m capable of not falling off, and willing to torture my ass for trips to and from places I enjoy, but riding for pleasure will never be a thing for me.”

“What kind of things do you like?” Yuuri asked, curious, since he had no idea what _he_ even liked.

“I’m in a really unusual situation where I’m a servant, but I have way too much money and free time, and get treated like a member of the gentry by my employer. It makes things awkward. I actually really like to read, now that I can, and my room has almost reached capacity for books. They’re going to start spilling out onto the shelves in Victor’s office soon.”

“And he reads real books, not like the trash that Chris reads.”

Yuuri laughed. “What’s a real book? As opposed to trash.”

“I really like history and science. Chris reads romance novels with so much graphic sex that they’re not allowed in some countries.”

“That really doesn’t shock me.”

“I like nice clothes, too, but don’t get to wear them all that often. I have enough of a wardrobe that I don’t really need to buy myself more clothes. I could get more shoes, I guess.”

Victor leaned back on the sofa. “Why are you looking for something practical? Buy something ridiculous.”

“What, like a painting or statue?”

“You like art.”

The look Alexei gave his employer was pure annoyance. “Uh huh. Just what I need, a random piece of artwork in my room.” He looked at Yuuri. “My room is already decorated with things I like, I don’t have room for anything else.”

“You could buy something for your family,” Yuuri suggested. 

“My mother and sisters would die for new dresses, and my annoying younger brother would probably like a new pair of boots. Luckily they all have incomes and buy those things themselves.” 

“They work in the palace,” Victor clarified. 

“Is there a girl you’re interested in? Maybe you could get her a gift to let her know you like her.”

Yuuri and Victor were both surprised to see that Alexei was uncomfortable with that idea, and almost looked pained. He shook his head.

“Let’s not go there.”

Victor sat up. “That definitely means there’s a girl. Talk.”

“It’s complicated. It’s _too_ complicated. I can’t.”

“Can’t talk?”

“Can’t get my hopes up. Let’s just leave it at that.”

The mood of light-hearted banter was effectively murdered, so they all decided to go to bed. Yuuri felt horrible that he’d upset Alexei with his suggestion. After a few moments, he got up to go find him. Victor tried to reassure him that it was fine, but Yuuri needed to apologize. He knocked on Alexei’s door.

“Yuuri? What’s wrong? Is Victor okay?”

“He’s fine. I, um, just wanted to apologize.”

“For what?” 

“I upset you, when I talked about getting a girl a present. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Alexei laughed sadly. “I’ll get over it, and I know you didn’t mean anything.”

Yuuri considered something for a moment, then asked, “Do you want to talk about it? Without Victor to tease you?”

Alexei laughed genuinely this time, and shook his head. “It’s not a big deal. There is a girl that I really, really, like. But it would be very difficult for me to have a relationship with her. I go see her all the time, and it’s torture.”

“Why would it be hard?”

He moved back into the room, and invited Yuuri in. They sat in the shabby (but comfortable as hell) chairs by the cold hearth. “I want to be Victor’s valet. I love him to pieces, and he needs me. I like having this gorgeous room all to myself, I love that I can take long, indulgent baths any time I want, and I like that I make enough money that I can entertain myself in town any night of the week. If I want to keep things this way, or mostly this way, I either need to stay out of relationships, or stick to girls who live and work in the palace. If I was married to another servant, we could have a nice apartment in the servant’s quarters, I’d still have the same job, and I’d still get to have the sweet life I have now, plus have someone I love.”

“This girl isn’t a palace servant, is she.”

Alexei shook his head. “No. She’s the daughter of the man who owns Victor’s and my favorite book shop. She runs the shop most of the time, so she’s there almost every day. She’s a writer, and she let me read her manuscript for a novel, and it’s amazing. The worst part is that she obviously feels the same, and we both know it won’t work.”

“Oh.” Yuuri was quiet for a while. “If you didn’t work for Victor, what would you want to do?”

“Go to university. I don’t know what I’d study, probably something in science. Marina would love that for me, she’s told me before that I’m wasted as a servant.”

“That’s her name?”

“Yes. I call her Masha most of the time, as long as other people aren’t around.”

“Does she have a nickname for you?”

He smiled. “She calls me what Victor calls you, _solnyshko.”_

“You love her.”

“Yes.”

They were quiet for a few moments before Yuuri made a statement that he was pretty sure Alexei had never considered. “Victor loves you. He’d still want to be your friend if you didn’t work for him. He wants you to be happy.”

Alexei closed his eyes. “He needs me. He needs someone to look after him when he breaks down in the middle of the night, or gets too drunk and needs a nursemaid, or even just to hug him before dinner.” He opened his eyes when Yuuri touched his hand. “What?”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few weeks, I don’t know exactly what my future will be, but, Alexei, _I’ll_ be here. Unless my memories tell me I’m a king and abandoned my throne, I don’t know if I could make myself leave Victor. I love him too much. If I get the chance to stay here, I’ll take care of him in the middle of the night and hug him before dinner. I’ll just try to keep him from getting too drunk in the first place, though.” He smiled at the surprised man. “I’ll never be able to replace you, but Victor would hate for you to be miserable for his sake.”

“I’m not—okay, I am kind of miserable.”

“That’s why you save your money, isn’t it? So you can go to university?”

“It’s an idiotic dream. Servants, even former servants, can’t go to university, no matter how much money they have.”

“I’m pretty sure that if the Prince of Rus said ‘this is my friend Alexei, he’s like a brother to me, he’s going to attend this university’ they’d be all over themselves making sure you’re accepted.”

“Sure.”

“He could probably just give you a title, couldn’t he?”

“Um, yes. A small one.”

“So, a respectable man with nice clothes and a title, who’s best friends with the Heir to the Throne, and literate in two languages, who is also a mage, wouldn’t be able to go to university?”

“Stop it, Yuuri, you’re making this all too reasonable.”

“I’m not going to tell you what to do or make pushy statements at you, that’s Victor’s personality,” he replied. “But I think she would want to know how you feel, and why you’re so hesitant to start something. She might have even better arguments than I do about why you should let yourself have a life with her. Love doesn’t happen every day. It’s worth at least talking about.”

Alexei nodded. “You’re probably right.”

“I’m going to go back to bed now. I won’t say anything to Victor.”

“Thanks. And thank you for talking to me.”

Impulsively, Yuuri bent down and gave Alexei a hug. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“Okay, Mom.”

Back in bed, Yuuri cuddled into Victor’s arms happily. His boyfriend was barely awake, and just murmured an ‘I love you’ before dropping back into unconsciousness. He thought about Alexei’s situation, and his own, not knowing where his rank or station would be in Russian society, with or without his memories. _I hope to god Victor’s father doesn’t say I can’t marry him. I’m going to marry Victor. I’m going to sit on the throne next to him, so he never feels alone again. I love him, I’m not letting him suffer as long as I can help it._

Before Yuuri fell asleep, he had the strangest thought. That maybe he wasn’t dumped in a forest for Victor. Maybe, he was dumped in a forest because Victor was _his_ , and there was no way to get a prince to his homeland. After all, he wasn’t just Victor’s true love, Victor was also _his_. Maybe it wasn’t a curse, maybe it was like a fairytale, but the location was complicated. Maybe, just maybe, he could have both lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE UNICORNS ARE AFTER YUURI! People who love Alexei (like me), would you be interested in a little one-shot about him and Marina? Oh, and later entries to this universe will touch on Chris's choice of reading material.


	11. In which there's so much gay you'll barf rainbows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been gone so long my friends! I had three weeks off for winter break and still didn't manage to finish this chapter. I decided to learn to crochet hats and make a billion new wallpapers for my computer. I also drove all over the universe doing stuff. I couldn't really decide where this chapter was going, so I reined it in and just stuck to Victor's and Yuuri's perspectives. Let me know what you think!

“Makka, no matter how hard you try, I don’t think you’re going to make Yuuri into a morning person.”

Yuuri glared at his laughing boyfriend around the fluffy bulk of his dog. “You do this on purpose. You let him in to jump on me with wet feet at the crack of dawn on purpose.”

“Me?” Victor replied, the picture of innocence. He knew he was good at looking innocent, it was a weapon he wielded with skill and finesse. “Besides, it’s after 8:00, that’s not the crack of dawn.”

“Close enough.” He laid there, a passive captive to a poodle’s affections, for a few more moments before his bladder insisted he get out of bed. “Fine, I’m up.” Yuuri tried to get out of bed. “Okay, really, at least call Makkachin so he quits licking me.”

Victor snorted. “Okay, only because I don’t want you to wet my bed. Very inconvenient.” He made kissy noises and called the dog’s name. “See? He’ll immediately abandon you for my love at any time.”

“You’re a dick.”

Victor laughed, Yuuri was normally so kind, but his ‘teasing’ became a little sharp when he was sleepy, which was any time before noon. “That’s the walk, or well, hobble, of a man who is sore.”

“You’re going to make my ride again this morning, aren’t you?”

“Just keep thinking about making chocolate chunk cookies at Midwinter.”

“Uh huh.”

“You can see some of Chris’s illustrated books.”

“Uh huh.”

“You can spend time with me?”

Yuuri smiled. “Okay, you’re right, cookies are a good reason.” He kissed Victor’s shocked-and-wounded-looking cheek. “I really don’t want to see Chris’s books.” He continued hobbling to the loo. His mind was working without his permission while he relieved himself and washed his hands and face and brushed his teeth. “Okay, maybe I do want to see Chris’s books.”

Victor cackled. “I knew it.” He was sitting on the bed, and pulled Yuuri down onto the soft mattress with him. “We should go riding now so that by the time Sara is up and wants to have brunch that we’re presentable.”

“Ugh. Okay.” He moved around until he could kiss Victor’s heart-shaped smile. “Love you.”

“Every time you say it, I melt. I love you, too, Yuuri.”

Before they went down to the stables, Victor helped Yuuri stretch so he wouldn’t potentially hurt himself trying to mount Liebchen. Stretching hurt, but pulling muscles and straining tendons hurt worse. Yuuri was fairly good-natured about it, and displayed some impressive flexibility despite being stiff. And much to both of their pleasure, Yuuri had retained what he’d learned the day before, and was able to mount without assistance.

“Horses have several different paces,” Victor explained as they left the palace grounds. “The trot, canter, and gallop are the ones most people know, but there’s also sort of a loping run for covering a lot of ground that some horses use naturally. How you sit in the saddle and hold yourself changes for each one.” He steered Rose off the bridle path into a tiny pocket of meadow. “Here, I’ll show you.”

Yuuri watched as Rose ran around the little grassy area and saw immediately that horses made music when they ran. He was smiling when Victor and Rose trotted up to him. “It’s like dancing music. Two beats, three beats, or four beats.”

“Exactly!” Victor was ridiculously pleased. “And like dancing, you have to have a different posture for each dance. Let’s practice the trot. What most people don’t tell you is to not clench your jaw, because your teeth will rattle until you master how to hold yourself.”

They spent about an hour just on the best ways to move with the horse, and how to shift when going to from a walk to a trot and from a trot to a canter. The canter was a little too fast for Yuuri’s comfort, so galloping was out of the question. Killing one’s boyfriend with fear was generally frowned upon. 

“You learn so fast, Yuuri. You’re a natural born athlete. You’ve got this. Let’s trot the girls back to the stable. Do you think you can get down yourself?”

“I’m going to try.” _I’m going to fall on my ass._

He did not fall on his ass. He actually did just fine. “You look like you’ve been riding for years. Your muscle memory is amazing. I can’t wait to teach you to skate.”

Yuuri smiled. “So, this winter I get chocolate cookies, graphic books, and ice skating? I guess riding is worth it.” He laughed when Victor raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah, and spending time with you. That’s okay I guess.”

“You’re so mean to me.”

“I’ve spent too much time talking to Alexei.”

Victor laughed. “The only person meaner to me than Alexei is Chris. There were times when I was younger that they ganged up on me and I actually cried.”

“Aw! I’m sorry, I’m sure they didn’t mean to.” He took Victor’s hand. 

“They didn’t. It’s okay, though, because we’ve all ganged up on each other and made the other one cry, we’re pretty much even. And Alexei has to be really hurt to cry. Unlike Chris, who cries all the time.”

Because Alexei was actually the most powerful wizard in the kingdom, a hot bubble bath was waiting when they arrived. “How does he _do_ that?” Yuuri asked, amazed yet again.

“I don’t know. But I have to tell you, I am severely spoiled.”

Yuuri wasn’t sure how long they’d been soaking when Alexei tapped on the door. “Sara is requesting your presences, bathing beauties. I left clothes out on the bed, she’s expecting you at 10:30.”

“Thank you!” Victor kissed Yuuri’s clean cheek. “Let’s get out, _solnyshko_ , we can’t leave a lady waiting. It goes against all kinds of court etiquette. And logic, really, she could possibly turn us into slugs.”

Their clothes were obviously designed to be cool in warm weather, being soft, thin cottons and linens in light colors. Yuuri thought the soft peach shirt Victor was wearing looked terribly beautiful on him. He hoped his own shirt looked presentable. It was white with a very thin blue stripe. No waistcoats were left for them.

“Alexei is 99% accurate on picking clothes for the weather,” Victor explained. “It’s going to be warm today. See how the shirts have pin tucks and detailing on the front? They’re meant for not wearing a vest, and it’s acceptable to wear them in hot weather during the day.”

“Is there an evening version? Because wearing a waistcoat at dinner is kind of horrible.”

Victor nodded. “There are much more detailed silk shirts in my wardrobe for that. It’s probably hot enough to start wearing them. And lighter trousers, I’m sure Alexei already anticipated that you’d need some. Your first couple of outfits should be back from the tailor soon, I can’t wait to see you in some of those gorgeous colors.”

Sara looked like a spring morning come to life. Her gown was glorious floral print, but not a regular pattern, more like a painting of flowers printed onto the white silk. It was simple yet still dramatic. Her long hair was down around her shoulders, and she had several bangle bracelets on her left wrist. When they entered, she waved them to chairs rather than standing up. “Come in, come in, there should be food any second.”

“Did you sleep well? Or did Mickey stand outside your door all night to be sure no men found you?”

The mage laughed. “I slept like the dead, but I’m not hung over, which means I had exactly the right amount of champagne.” She looked around to make sure her twin was no where nearby. “I think he might have finally relaxed enough to have fun last night.”

“What happened three years ago to change him so much? He’s always been over-protective, but it seems like he, I don’t know,--”

“Forgot he was a person and not just my bodyguard?” She shook her head. “I’m not positive, but I think it was a bad situation we got into in the backwoods of Deutschland. We joined a hunt for a werewolf with some moster hunters. I didn’t trust them, Mickey did. We were following its trail through a thick forest, and I caught the edge of its aura. Something was wrong. Very wrong. I didn’t tell the rest of the hunters and went after it on my own. My instincts were right. This was _not_ a bloodthirsty monster. This was a genuine werewolf.”

“What’s a werewolf?” Yuuri was perplexed.

Sara waited while brunch was delivered and they moved to the table under the windows to eat. “There are several types of were creatures. Most are magically created, and have bred more of themselves, and they’re monsters. They have the form of a human during the day, but turn into animals in the moonlight. They’re not always wolves, but that’s the most common. And they’re not natural-looking wolves, they’re huge, terrifying, and have a strong desire to kill everything.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“It is. But there are naturally-occuring were creatures, again, mostly wolves. Unlike the monsters, they’re human, with human brains and morality, and can take their animal forms at will. Most importantly, they retain their human intelligence while in animal form. Some of them are evil, of course, just like some humans are evil. But they’re not monsters.”

“What did you do?” Both men were enraptured by the story. 

Sara buttered some toast while she thought. “I followed him, and I could tell it was a him, until I knew I was out of earshot of the party. I ‘opened’ my mind, so to speak, so that I could get a better idea of where he was, and immediately realized that he could ‘hear’ me if I was thinking, so I introduced myself and told him what was happening. He just listened and didn’t answer for a long time, but finally asked me to help him, he’d been running from this group for months and nothing he’d done to shake them off his trail had worked. I followed him to a safe spot to talk, because I could see through his wolf-form’s eyes, and it was the coolest shit ever, I swear to all the gods.”

Victor laughed. “Your enthusiasm cracks me up.”

“It was fucking cool! And he was _gorgeous_ , in wolf and human form. His name was Georg, and he and his family were living happily in a village with a bunch of people who knew they were werewolves and appreciated that nothing ever ate their livestock because of them. They’d lived there for generations. Then this group shows up to run the ‘monsters’ out of town. None of the villagers ever gave them up as werewolves, but somehow, they figured it out, and burned their house down to get them to run into their weapons. Luckily, none of them died, because Georg sacrificed himself by shifting and taking off into the woods so they’d have something to chase. It worked, but he couldn’t escape them.”

“These guys suck.” 

Yuuri laughed. “You’re so eloquent, my beloved Prince.”

He waved at Yuuri to shush him. “Keep going.”

“I knew what the problem was, they had something of his that their mage was using to keep following his magical ‘scent’. I had him look through my eyes at the campsite to spot what it was, and they had one of his childhood toys of all things. He told me to just burn it, since he didn’t need it back, it wasn’t even especially meaningful to him. I told him I would, and went back to the camp. Most of the hunters were sleeping, it was about an hour until dawn. Mickey woke up when I got back to our tent and was _furious_. I was trying to explain what happened, but he was yelling at me and woke up all the hunters. I tried to keep everyone calm and reasonable, but like I said, I didn’t trust these people, and Mickey did. He told them _everything_ I’d just told him, putting me and Georg in danger immediately.”

“This sounds really bad,” Yuuri commented. He privately thought Sara had a talent for storytelling that rivalled her magical abilities.

“The Huntmaster was a really big guy, he called himself Thor. He picked me up by my neck and bellowed at me about being a traitor and generally being a horrible person by virtue of being a woman and a mage. Then he dropped me. I don’t think I had ever been that scared before, and I’ve never been that scared again. Mickey was horrified, but Thor gave him the choice of being a ‘man’ and helping them track down ‘the beast,’ or being loyal to me, and being ‘no better than a whore’ and made it clear that after he caught Georg he was going to make us watch him skin him alive before he killed us.”

Victor and Yuuri exchanged shocked and terrified glances. “Holy fuck, Sara! What happened? How did you get away?”

She pointed her fork in Victor’s direction. “Thor was big, mean, and evil, but he wasn’t that smart. He threw Mickey and I in his tent with two guys to guard us and took everyone else off after Georg. The toy, a stuffed wolf hilariously enough, was just sitting on the top of Thor’s packs. I calmly walked out of the tent and tossed it into the campfire.” 

“Yes!”

“Victor, you are such a dork.”

“Shut up. Keep going.”

“The two minions that were supposed to guard us tried to attack, but even without a weapon, Mickey is pretty lethal, and even though Thor didn’t have a high opinion of mages, I’m a really strong one, and they didn’t stand a chance. I’d already warned Georg at that point, and he came down to the camp site to help us out. Mickey was so apologetic it wasn’t funny, but we both told him to shut up because we only had a few minutes until the hunters came back. We gave him some of Mickey’s regular clothes and his extra boots, packed our things, and left. Thor must not have realized that when an Adept wants to get lost, she gets lost. We backtracked to the nearest village and got supplies, and I shared with the town elders just what a raging dick Thor was and that the hunters couldn’t be trusted. Turns out that one of the elders is a very distant relation to werewolves, with just enough powers to have good night vision, but he was _livid_. We took a round about path back to Georg’s village, doing odd jobs along the way.” Sara looked down, smiling sadly. “We were a great team, a knight, a mage, and a shape shifter. I wanted Georg to keep traveling with us. He…wanted me to stay in his village.” She shook her head. “That was a really hard goodbye.”

Yuuri was really curious about how old Sara really was now, since she looked all of 16 or 17 and this had happened three years earlier.

“I’m so sorry, Sara.” Victor put his hand over hers. 

“I couldn’t settle down at 20, I’d just gotten enough of a reputation to make _serious_ money from people seeking me out. He said it was hard for him to decide to stay, because he loved traveling with us, and well, me, but his family needed him, and relied on him as the oldest son. He couldn’t afford to go have an adventurous life, and understood that I didn’t want to have a simple, peaceful life in the country.”

_How the fuck is she 23?_

Sara must have noticed and correctly interpreted Yuuri’s look because she started laughing. “It’s easier to tell how old Mickey is, he looks a little young for our age, but you’d still guess early 20s. I know I look 15. It’s the magic, it sort of preserves you. I’ll always look a few years younger than I really am. Unfortunately, when my time comes, it will come fast, and I’ll age a lot all at once. I’m not looking forward to that.” She sipped her tea. “Anyway, I’m pretty sure the entire adventure changed Mickey. He doesn’t trust people anymore, he doesn’t trust himself anymore, and he’s terrified that the next charming, handsome man I meet will be another Thor. I was so happy to see him dancing last night!” 

“He looked shocked when Emil asked him to dance.”

Sarah nodded. “I’m sure it had never occurred to him that he was allowed to dance with someone. Which is dumb because we grew up dancing all the time. Our parents are rich and eccentric and had tons of parties. We even performed for the guests, he’s a fantastic dancer. And I know he used to dance with guys _and_ girls when we were hosted at courts before the incident. Now he just stares at me while I show off my dresses.”

“You do have a fabulous wardrobe.”

Sara blew him a kiss. “We all have our vices. Mine is clothes.”

“So is Victor’s.”

“Hush. You don’t know what your vices are, so you can’t make fun of me.”

“I think chocolate could become one of my vices. Don’t tell me where you’re hiding it.”

They were laughing when Mickey walked into the room, trailed by Emil. Both men were dressed casually for warm weather, and neither had a weapon. Victor and Yuuri both noticed Sara’s look of surprised delight. 

“Good morning, brother dear! Where have you been?”

He dropped into one of the chairs by the cold hearth. “My body didn’t care that I stayed up late drinking, it told me dawn was the best time to wake up.”

“Same,” Emil concurred with a smile. “We went running on the bridle paths.”

“Ambitious,” Victor laughed. 

“And that took from dawn until 11:15?”

Mickey looked uncomfortable. Emil winked.

“Anyway, tonight is Evgenia’s party, right? What are you wearing? I don’t want us to clash.”

Victor laughed. “I don’t know, I hadn’t even thought about it. What color do you want to wear? Yuuri and I can plan around that.”

“What am I wearing?”

“The blue silk with the gold embroidery that Alexei pulled out for you,” Victor replied. “Summer parties are why that tunic exists. It’s entirely possible that I wore it to one of my aunt’s parties. Maybe more than one.” He looked at Sara. “It’s between royal and midnight blue. I’ll pick something to harmonize.”

“Excellent, and I have the most gorgeous new gown I’ve been dying to wear, and it won’t clash with dark blue.”

Everyone looked when Mickey started laughing, then immediately smothered it. Innocent wasn’t a face he could really pull off, but he tried. “What?”

“Why are you laughing?” Sara looked indignent. 

“You’re not going to make a grand entrance with the Prince on your arm, Sara, you’re going to be there early setting up for the fireworks. It doesn’t matter if your dress clashes with Victor’s tunic.” He was still laughing a little. “You also have so many gowns with you that you have to put a charm on your luggage to make it weightless so that a horse can carry it. There’s no way you could _possibly_ not have a dress that goes with Victor’s outfit.”

“Hmph.” She looked haughty. “Some of use like to look sophisticated for parties.” 

“Admit it, you just want to have a fashion show with Victor to try on all of your new dresses.”

“Hush.”

Now Victor and Emil were also laughing. Yuuri felt like he was better off staying out of the argument, but noticed that Mickey seemed far more relaxed this morning than he had last night. He really did look like he was 21 or 22 when he was smiling and teasing his sister instead of glaring at everyone. _I wonder if…no, I don’t actually want to know._

“I’d _love_ to have a fashion show! But I more or less promised to teach Yuuri more dances, and it’s almost noon. The party is at 6:00, and even being fashionably late, that doesn’t give me that much time for dancing lessons _and_ looking perfect.” 

“I never said I wanted to have a fashion show,” Sara quipped, which really just made Mickey laugh more. “What’s gotten into you this morning?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I pick on you all the time.”

Yuuri and Victor shared a glance then shrugged. “I’m going to go teach this man to dance, I’ll see you this evening. Don’t you dare bring weapons, this is a party, you’re not working.”

Emil grinned and gave Victor a thumbs up. Mickey mock saluted him. 

In the hall, as soon as they were out of earshot, Victor turned to Yuuri. “Do you think they slept together?”

“Uh, how would I know?” Yuuri was sure his face was struggling to display all of the discomfort he was feeling. “I don’t know?”

“Come on, Yuuri, you saw how he couldn’t answer what he’d been doing all morning, and he was so chill, he was even teasing Sara! He’s usually so grim and angry!”

“Um, Emil winked, so maybe they did? But he could have just been making a joke out of it.”

“Ugh, you’re so right.”

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh. “Why do you need to know?”

“I just do!” Victor laughed along with him. “Really, though, I’ve known them since they were 12 or 13, and the change in Mickey three years ago was really troubling. He’s always been more serious than Sara, but damn, the Mickey of the last three years has been bad. And I didn’t know Sara had fallen in love with a werewolf, she’s never mentioned him before.” He squeezed Yuuri’s hand. “Would you still love me if I was a werewolf?”

“It would depend on how much you shed, and if you smelled like wet dog after a bath.” Yuuri grinned when Victor laughed. “And if you still howled at the moon in human form. Would you still love me if I was a werewolf?”

“Of course, and I wouldn’t even care if you shed.”

Alexei was gone when they got back, but a note was waiting on the table in the sitting room to the effect that he was taking the afternoon off and he’d be back to help them get ready for the party. Victor was delighted. “He never asks for time off, and he deserves it. Half the time that he’s supposed to be relaxing he magically appears to take care of problems for me. All of the palace servants get two days off a month, and he never takes his.”

“I’m glad he’s taking time off, then.” Yuuri wondered if Alexei was going to go talk to the girl he loved. He hoped so. “Where are we going to practice dancing?”

“There are plenty of large party rooms in the palace that courtiers use to have receptions and dinners. They all have polished floors for dancing, we can use one of them.” He walked into the office, and Yuuri followed him. “Let me see if Chris is available for lessons, since it’s hard to learn if you don’t have someone to watch.” He smoothed the paper of the bird to write a note.

“Ask Tristan, too.”

“I said I’d teach you.”

Yuuri chuckled at Victor’s jealousy. “Yes, but they don’t get to spend much time together, and they can in front of me, so there’s no reason to separate them.”

“Oh. You’re right.” He smiled. “You’re so sweet.” Note written, he kissed it, and they watched it flutter into the sitting room, and out the window. “Without Alexei here, tea won’t magically appear when we want it.” 

Yuuri laughed, because Victor was looking at the tea table sadly as he discussed the lack of tea. “I’m sure we’ll survive.” 

“But will we?” He dropped down onto the sofa. “I wonder where Makkachin is?”

“He’s usually in the suite, isn’t he?” Yuuri settled on the other end of the sofa. “Do you think he’s okay?”

“He has free run of the palace, so he could be anywhere. He generally stays to my rooms, the gardens, or the servant’s quarters, but has been known to sneak into Phichit’s studio. One day he refused to get off of his fainting couch so he just did a painting of Makka. It’s in my office.”

The bird fluttered in and launded on Victor’s knee. He opened it to read the note.

_We’ll help with dancing lessons if you teach your dog that it’s rude to just waltz into my room and jump on my sofa while I’m already on it._

_Hugs & Kisses,  
Chris_

_PS, Thank you for inviting Tristan. <3_

“Makka is with Chris and Tristan, apparently he let himself in to hang out in their sitting room.”

Yuuri laughed. “Of course he did.”

“Chris has dog treats. He pretends to be annoyed with Makkachin but he actually loves him.”

“Does Chris have a dog?”

“No, just his cat named Cheri. It’s funny because he thought she was a boy and named her the boy word for “darling,” but he turned out to be a she.”

Yuuri was amused. “What’s the girl word?”

“ _Cherie_. Notice it sounds exactly the same. It’s spelled differently though. Francais is a confusing language. People are always impressed that I speak it fluently.”

Shaking his head, Yuuri smiled at Victor. “I don’t know how they can speak so many languages.”

“Chris speaks Francais, Deutsch, Italian, the common tongue, and the very obscure native language of Schweiz. And conversational Russian. Tristan also speaks Magyar and Czech for some reason.”

“I hope that I still speak this language when I remember my native language. It would be terrifible if I couldn’t talk to you.”

Victor pulled him close. “Don’t worry, even if that happens, there are spells to help you learn languages quickly. Only really strong mages can use them, but we have Sara.”

Yuuri nodded. “Okay, we should try dancing.”

“Let’s get our dancing shoes and go get Chris and Tristan.”

Makka decided to join them as they went to the court wing of the palace to find a room for dancing. The first room they checked had been turned into storage, but the second was empty except for tables against the walls. 

“This is perfect. Lots of room, nice floor, good light from the windows.”

They spent an amusing couple of hours teaching Yuuri common partner dances from Russia, Francia, and Italia, the most common ones for balls and parties. Tristan suggested a dance popular in Schweiz and Deutschland, and Yuuri decided it was the most fun of the bunch. He was so good at learning the steps, and adjusted to the movements and posture so easily, that Victor was tempted to teach him harder traditional Russian dances, but they wouldn’t be useful for a high-society party.

“Yuuri, you’re unbelievable. I’ve never seen anyone learn that fast.”

“Except you,” Chris quipped. “Victor took to dancing so well that Yakov’s wife wanted to train him in ballet. Aunt Vasya was all for it, but King Anton vetoed it.”

“Chris is a natural dancer, too,” Victor replied. “We had tons of fun learning to dance as kids.”

“Show-offs. I actually had to _learn_ to dance.” Tristan had a wry look on his face. 

“We can’t all be gifted,” Chris teased.

“You know, Yuuri, I bet this will transfer to skating really well.”

“Of course it will,” Tristan agreed. 

“Oh, do you skate too?”

The tall man nodded. “I can’t do all of the crazy jumps that these two do, but my tiny sister and I have drawn applause ice dancing.”

“Amelie is 22 and almost as small as Yuri,” Chris explained. “We should ice dance.”

“There is no way I could lift you,” Tristan replied dryly, drawing laughter from the other men. 

“Victor carried Yuuri across the ice!”

Tristan rolled his eyes and gave his lover a long-suffering glare. “Victor works out, I do not. And Yuuri definitely weighs less than you do.”

“But--”

Chris’s comical attempt to convince his boyfriend to twirl him through the air was interrupted by the bells ringing 4:00. “I need to go make sure everyone knows I have a legitimate reason for not being at dinner. Normally Alexei takes care of that, but I don’t know if he did before he left for the afternoon.”

“Can you show me how to get back to the room before you go?”

“We’ll take you,” Chris offered. “This place is a maze.”

“It’s because it was built in chunks over like 400 years,” Victor explained. “There are hallways that just end from where a new wing was added but they forgot to connect it to the old part of the castle from the other side.”

Yuuri had a blurry vision of his home. “I don’t think I live in a castle,” he said softly, closing his eyes to try to hold onto the memory. He could feel grass mats under his feet, and feel the smooth wood of the sliding door, with panes of paper rather than glass, under his hand. “It’s completely different. I don’t know how to describe it.” As he tried to find the words, the sights and sensations faded away. “It’s gone.”

Victor pulled him close. “We’ll figure out how to get all of your memories back, _lyubov moya.”_

“Sara can do it,” Chris assured him. “She’s incredible.” 

“Let’s go, _solnyshko_ , and don’t stress about it tonight. My aunt’s parties are always fun and relaxed, you’ll enjoy yourself.” 

The suite was empty when Chris and Tristan dropped Yuuri off, joking about getting him map. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself, it was the first time he’d actually been alone since Victor kissed him awake. Even Makkachin wasn’t there. Bemused, he took the time to wash his face and brush out his hair, both of which he felt were needed after the dancing lessons. He eyed himself in the mirror, critical of his appearance, but well aware that he couldn’t really change it. Victor’s soap seemed to agree with his skin, at least, he wasn’t broken out. He could detect the slightest hint of sunburn on his nose and cheeks, but knew it would be gone before tomorrow. And as much as he hated to admit it, Victor’s conditioning rinse really did help his hair.

The sound of the door opening and closing brought Yuuri out of his musings, and he looked out, expecting Victor, but it was Alexei. “Oh, you’re back.” When he saw Alexei’s face, he knew something had happened. “You saw her, didn’t you?”

“I knew I had to go see her today, I just knew.” He shook his head. “She was crying, Yuuri, she thought I was avoiding her because it was too hard to be around her. I couldn’t _not_ hold her, I couldn’t _not_ kiss her and tell her how much I love her.”

“What did she say?” He grinned when he saw the smile Alexei just couldn’t hide.

“That she loves me. She got her younger brother to watch the shop and we spent the afternoon together.”

“Do things seem less complicated now?”

Alexei laughed. “You could say that.” He squeezed Yuuri’s arm. “Thank you for the push.” 

“When are you going to tell Victor?”

“Tomorrow maybe? Not tonight. Speaking of, where is your better half?”

As if the thought had summoned him, Victor opened the door. “Alexei, you’re back! Did you have a good afternoon?”

“The best.” 

“We need to pick out clothes for the party,” Victor announced, cutting between Yuuri and Alexei to go in his room, completely oblivious to the communication that had occurred between the two men before he walked in. 

“Do you want to match, or wear contrasting colors?” Alexei asked, following him. Yuuri trailed behind.

“That’s a good question.” Victor opened his wardrobe and stared. “I should probably harmonize with Yuuri, not really match or contrast.”

“Purple, maybe?” Alexei pulled out a rich violet silk tunic with gold embroidery in the shape of flowers.

“I don’t know, that looks so much like Yuuri’s with the embroidery. I basically got that one to replace the blue one.”

“What about silver?” The tunic looked like liquid moonlight, and the shoulders and wrists sparkled with faceted beads in the palest shades of aqua, blue and lilac. Metallic silver thread shone at the seams. 

“Oh, it’s so pretty,” Yuuri breathed. Victor would really look like a fairytale prince in that. “Please wear it.”

Victor smiled and kissed Yuuri’s cheek. “Thank you, _solnyshko_.” He watched Alexei going through the depths of the fabric in the cabinet. He secretly feared that something would reach out of the clothes and pull them in someday. 

“Here we are, the belt and trousers. Grey dancing shoes?”

“I forgot I had those.”

Alexei rolled his eyes. “You got them for this outfit.”

“I think that means you have too many clothes,” Yuuri teased. 

“No such thing.”

“Don’t listen to him, Yuuri. He has too many clothes. I don’t know if you looked in the wardrobe in your room, but that’s where his winter collection is, because he can’t fit everything in here.”

Over the next hour, they dressed carefully to avoid any wrinkles or tears in the fragile silk or working up a sweat that would spoil the soft perfection of the fabric. Alexei had hemmed the trousers that matched the blue tunic; they were a darker blue and had a little matching embroidery down the sides of the thighs. The belt was black leather that had been exquisitely worked with what Victor told him were firebirds, a magical creature in Rus. Their eyes were chips of sapphires, and their long tail feathers shimmered with gold. The buckle was a work of art in gold, featuring a beautifully detailed firebird with rubies set in the feathers of its wings and tail as well as a glowing blue sapphire for the bird’s large eye. It was so gorgeous that Yuuri almost felt silly wearing it. “I get the feeling that this belt cost more than most houses.”

Alexei chuckled. “It’s pretty, isn’t it? I think it’s the fanciest belt I’ve ever seen.”

“I was so bummed when I couldn’t wear it anymore.” Victor’s own belt was the same dark silver grey of his trousers and carved with a pattern of leaping deer. “It was a gift from my grandfather. My mother’s family is from a region known for leather working. This one is from my grandmother.”

“Oh, are your grandparents still alive?” 

Victor nodded. “Yes, but I don’t get to seem them very often. It’s painful for my grandfather to travel, he has an old injury from a bad fall riding when he was a kid and it just gets worse and worse. I’d like to see them more.”

Yuuri heard what Victor wasn’t saying: that his father wouldn’t let him see them. He shared a brief glance with Alexei, who confirmed his suspicions silently. _Yet another reason not to like him._

Alexei was putting the finishing touches on Yuuri’s hair when Chris and Tristan let themselves in. The blond prince was wearing an ensemble that was positively demure compared to what Yuuri had seen him in so far, a silk tunic in a color somewhere between blue and purple that was cut just below his collar bone and glittered with sequins on the shoulders and down his chest. It wasn’t even all that sheer. His trousers were a very deep blue violet, and rather than a belt, he wore a matching sash that fastened with a square silver buckle at his left hip. Somehow, it was sexier than the near-nudity that he was fond of. He looked more…soft, Yuuri thought. 

“You look beautiful, Chris!” Victor gushed, kissing him on the cheek. “Let me see your outfit, Tristan, you lucky man.”

The tall man laughed softly and did a little turn so that Victor could see that he was wearing a far-more-understated tunic in a dark teal. “Will I do?”

“Well, you could use some more sparkle.” Victor winked to show he was teasing. “Would you like to borrow a tiara?”

“Chris has enough sparkle for an entire kingdom.”

“You’re probably right.” 

Yuuri was curious about how they were getting to the party, but his curiosity was satisfied in short order.

“Okay, so we’ll be taking the Royal Coach to the party. It can hold all six of us with no problem. But we’ll be going out he front doors of the palace, so people will be watching. More will be watching when we go out the gate at the end of the lane. Just smile.”

In the opulent entrance hall of the palace, which Yuuri hadn’t yet seen, Yuri and Mila were waiting impatiently. Well, Yuri was impatient. He was dressed in black in defiance of all things summery, but his tunic was embroidered with golden tigers on either side of the deep V of the collar, set with red gems for eyes. Mila was in a lovely gown that was pale aqua at the top and slowly faded to a rich teal at the bottom. It was extremely striking.

“It’s about time,” Yuri groused. 

“It’s barely 6:00, chill. We can’t be right on time, that’s lame and uncool.” Victor held out his arm to Yuuri, who took it. “By court etiquette, we’ve just announced that we’re seeing each other,” Victor whispered with a smile. “It’s the way you’re holding my arm.”

“Is that okay?”

“Absolutely.”

“Gross,” Yuri muttered. Mila pinched him and told him to shut up.

“Victor, you should have worn your coronet,” Chris commented. 

“Ugh, no, not if I don’t have to.” He looked at Yuuri. “I hate wearing a crown.”

“It would mess up your hair,” Yuuri joked, but privately, he wished he could see Victor with his crown on.

“Exactly,” he agreed. “Why aren’t you wearing yours?”

“It makes my forehead sweat.”

“You know we’ll have to for the Midsummer Ball.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Before he could complain anymore, Chris was interrupted by the guards opening the large, ornate front doors of the palace. Yuri and Mila fell in behind Victor and Yuuri, and he could only assume Chris and Tristan were behind them. Although dinner was happening in the dining room, a number of courtiers were attending parties tonight and waiting to leave—and they all bowed as Victor and his party walked through the crowd. Yuuri was intensely uncomfortable but tried his best not to show it. What could only be the Royal Coach was waiting for them on the graveled path below the stairs. Yuuri was sure he’d never seen a Russian-style carriage before, it was the most foreign-looking object he could imagine. The sun was still high above the horizon, and he could see that it was black, but all of the edges were gilded. Two jet-black horses stood in front of it, and liveried footmen were waiting to assist them into the box-on-wheels.

“I never take the carriage if I can help it,” Victor murmured. “But for a formal party, the Prince has to be delivered in an appropriate vehicle.”

At the bottom of the stairs, Yuuri followed Victor into the coach, seeing that the long benches inside were apolstered in deep red velvet. He settled next to Victor and watched as Mila was elegantly handed into the coach, and she sat next to them. That forced Yuri to sit with Chris and Tristan, and he looked about as happy as a cat in a downpour. They tried to get him to sit between them ‘like a good boy’ so that they could ‘look after him’ and he looked positively murderous. Yuuri thought that he couldn’t possibly have ever met anyone else in the world as angry as Yuri.

“This thing is so ugly,” the blond commented. “Just, so fucking ugly.”

“It really is,” Victor agreed. 

“Oh, I thought it was just me.” Yuuri felt relieved. 

Victor laughed. “No, it’s ugly. A remnant of my grandmother’s redecorating plans. My mother desperately wanted to replace it, but in the end, she settled for having her own small carriage so she didn’t have to use this one to visit people in the city.”

Soon, Yuuri discovered that in addition to being ugly, the Royal Coach was uncomfortable. It seemed like every single cobblestone in the road was being tattooed onto his ass. “I think I would have rather ridden Liebchen. My butt wouldn’t hurt as bad.”

“Just imagine taking this on trips to the country. My mother had me in the saddle as soon as it was reasonably safe so we could ride to my grandparents’ country estate.”

When the coach pulled into the circular drive in front of Victor’s aunt’s house, it had to wait behind a few other coaches dropping passengers. “My aunt’s parties are very popular. Most of the guests will be at at least three parties tonight, though.”

“Society parties are usually a combination of dull and annoying,” Chris added. “They mainly happen so that people can show off their wealth and connections. Aunt Jenny’s parties are actually fun.”

“Jenny is how the Russian diminuative for Evegnia sounds in the common tongue,” Victor explained when he saw Yuuri’s confused look. “She likes it better than Zhenya.”

“And she’s not really any of our aunt,” Yuri explained. “She’s Aunt Vasya’s cousin.”

“She’s one of the nicest people in the world.” Chris was wearing a soft smile. “She comes to Schweiz to see my mom a couple times a year.”

“Does your mother ever come to Rus?” Yuuri asked.

“She doesn’t want to see my father. I can’t really blame her. I don’t want to see my father.” Victor squeezed Yuuri’s knee. “When the footman opens the door, I’ll hand you out first, then join you.”

“Oh, god.”

“You’ll be fine.” 

Before Yuuri was ready, the door opened, and he stepped carefully down from the coach, but before he could panic, Victor was beside him, taking his arm. “They’ll open the doors for us at the top of the stairs. Since it’s early and she’s expecting me, my aunt will probably be there so I can introduce you.”

Yuuri was relieved when they reached the top without falling, he’d had visions of face planting and embarrassing himself and Victor. There were other couples arriving and following them up the stairs, as well as Yuri, Mila, Chris and Tristan. Although the house was opulent, it was more open and airy than the palace, and made Yuuri think of the painting of baby Victor with his mother. Waiting just inside the door, was Victor’s aunt. Rather than waiting to be greeted formally, she rushed forward to give him a warm hug. 

“Vitya, where have you been?” She held him at arm’s length. “It’s been over a month since you visited me.”

“I have no excuses.” He kissed her cheek. “Let me introduce you to Yuuri.” He gently placed his hand on the small of Yuuri’s back. “Aunt Jenny, this is my true love, Yuuri. Yuuri, my favorite aunt.”

“True love? Oh, I have to hear this story.” She took both of Yuuri’s hands. “I’m so happy to meet you.”

Yuuri saw immediately than Evgenia could have been the late Queen’s twin, except that she long dark hair instead of silver. Her eyes were just like Victor’s, that same liquid blue, and she looked at him with kindness. “I’m happy to meet you, too.” 

“Go get some champagne, I’ll catch up with you later.”

Yuuri looked around as Victor led him through the large house. “Your aunt’s house is so pretty.” 

“It really is. My uncle was an artist by passion but an architect by profession, and this house is the marriage of both.” 

“Oh, is he, um-”

“The same fever that killed my mom. Aunt Jenny was devastated. Chris, Aunt Adela, Aunt Jenny, and I tried to keep each other sane.” 

“That’s so sad.”

Yuuri was unprepared for the ballroom.

It was nothing like the size of the one at the palace, but it was _packed_. Like the palace parties, waiters were circulating with champagne, but their livery included brightly-colored vests. The entire back wall was windows, and doors opened to the gardens. Colorful silks were draped from the ceiling and along the walls, and the chandelier was designed to look like the moon and stars. Along the walls were sconces, but instead of holding candles, they held large clusters of beautiful flowers with vines cascading down nearly to the floor. The floor below Yuuri’s feet included some colorful tiles amid the soft cream marble, and he wondered if there was a design on the floor of the entire ballroom.

“The dancing hasn’t started yet,” Victor commented. “Above us is a balcony where the band will be playing. Because Aunt Jenny’s parties are very social and relaxed, it isn’t constant dancing, there’s lot of time to just walk around and talk to people. The fireworks will be amazing.” He paused briefly to take two glasses of champagne. “Sometimes at society parties, the hosts parade potential brides and grooms in front of me like a cattle auction. No one will do that here, thank every god.”

They moved into the swirling mass of humanity laughing and talking in the large room. Victor immediately drew attention; he was the Prince of the kingdom, he was beautiful, and he had a mysterious stranger on his arm. People greeted them with little bows and curious looks. Yuuri did his best to smile at each one. Victor smiled, nodded, said hello, and moved on. His goal was clearly the garden doors. Once they arrived, Yuuri could see why.

It was _so_ much cooler.

“We’ll have to mingle more, of course, but the best part of being royalty is that the mingling typically comes to you. If I’m going to be fawned over, I want to do it where there’s a cool breeze.”

Yuuri laughed under his breath. Victor loved being fawned over. _Nice try._

Before anyone else could ‘mingle’ with Victor, Yuri came to stand with them. “I don’t know why I’m here.” He was looking down at his champagne. “I think I’m the youngest person in the room.”

Victor nodded in understanding. When Yuri was younger, many of the other party-goers had brought children to Aunt Jenny’s parties, so there were other people the same age. Now that those children were teenagers, they were refusing to go to parties with their parents. Victor knew that Yuri had come for the chance to see Evgenia, who would shower him with genuine affection. 

“You never know who might be here. There are always new people showing up at Aunt Jenny’s parties.”

Yuri shrugged. Victor squeezed his shoulder. He was actually very fond of Yuri, and felt bad for him. He’d at least had a wonderful mother. Neither of Yuri’s parents were especially warm or caring.

“Don’t be sad, Yuri.” 

They all looked to see that Sara had joined them. “Why?”

“I asked Evgenia if I could invite some university mage students to the party, and they’re all really cool. One of them said he’s really into ice skating, and I thought you, so I invited him. He’s cute, too, in a serious kinda way.” 

“Oh.” It was clear that Yuri didn’t know how he felt about that wealth of information. 

Just then, the musicians began tuning in the gallery above. Yuuri looked up, the acoustics of the room with the band above the dance floor was amazing. “Oh, wow.”

“It’s nice, isn’t it? My uncle designed the ballroom to have the same features of a temple that make the sound ring.”

“You should hear people sing in here.” Yuuri looked up to see that Chris and Tristan had joined them. “There’s an opera singer who is extremely talented that does little concerts for Aunt Jenny. This room is magical.” He smiled at Tristan. “We’ll make sure you get to come to one this summer.”

The first strains of a popular Russian dance filled the air, and Victor turned to his beloved. “Would you like to dance, _solnyshko?”_

“I’ll try.” Yuuri looked at his champane glass.

Victor took it and set it on a table a few steps away before offering Yuuri his hand. This was a romantic dance, and he smiled into Yuuri’s warm brown eyes. “Just follow me, remember this dance isn’t too complicated.”

Within a few steps, Yuuri was relatively confident. “I’m glad I know more dances now.” 

“Me too, more chances to have you in my arms.”

“That’s kind of embarrassingly romantic.”

“That’s a fairly good description of me, really,’ Victor teased. “I’ve just been waiting for the perfect person to be embarrassingly romantic with.”

Because the room was smaller but nearly as crowded as the palace, they couldn’t move much, and bumped other couples occasionally. One of them, surprisingly was Mickey and Emil. Neither man acknowledged it, and Yuuri and Victor shared a giggle over the rapt attention they were paying each other.

Now that he knew several different dances, Yuuri was happy to spend time on the dancefloor with Victor. They laughed and talked, usually about other dancers or funny stories of Victor’s party experiences. Yuuri forgot about the pressure of being around so many people and acting like the Prince’s boyfriend should, and just enjoyed dancing with the man he loved.

After four songs, the band took a break, and the dancers availed themselves of champagne and lemonade. Yuuri spotted Chris and Tristan talking to a sizeable older lady swathed in yards of red silk and covered in so many rubies it was a wonder she could walk. Sara had acquired a circle of admirers, and was holding them entranced with her conversation (and probably her beauty). And Yuri—

Yuri was talking to a group of young men and women, clearly the university students that Sara had mentioned. He was animated, and looked to be enjoying himself, something Yuuri thought he’d never see. He shared a glance with Victor, who looked just as surprised. 

“Victor, tell me all about your Yuuri.”

Both men smiled at Victor’s aunt, who had joined them. Yuuri was struck by just how pretty she was, and how much she looked like Victor. She clearly the type of person who was genuinely kind, it wasn’t an act on her part, and she so obviously loved Victor, and was interested in knowing about his life and love. She was dressed beautifully in sapphire blue and moved as gracefully as a woman who was half her age.

Victor smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “It’s an amazing story. I found Yuuri sleeping on an altar in the middle of a frozen pond in the Old Forest. I kissed him awake, just like a fairytale.”

“Are you serious?” She looked half amazed and half skeptical. 

“Completely serious. Chris witnessed the entire thing.”

“That’s unbelievable! I mean, clearly, I believe you, but what a fantastic story!” 

Victor grinned. “It was extremely dramatic. Unicorns attacked us, Yuuri couldn’t walk so I had to carry him, Chris was laughing so hard he almost fell over.”

Yuuri could feel himself turning the color of a ripe tomato. “I don’t have any memories from before, and I don’t remember what happened when Victor woke me up.”

“It went from otherworldly and magical to comically inconvenient really quickly.” Victor put his arm around Yuuri and tugged him close. “I knew when I kissed him, I’d love him for the rest of my life.”

“I feel the same,” Yuuri whispered, looking up at him. “But I have no idea who I am.”

Aunt Jenny shook her head. “Just unbelievable. A true fairytale, just like Tales of a Sleeping Prince!” She leaned in to kiss Yuuri on the cheek. “I’m so glad. Vitya has been lonely for so long.”

“Sara is trying to see if she can break the spell to give Yuuri back his memories.”

“If anyone can, it’s Sara.” She looked out over the ballroom. “I see her brother has gotten close to someone. After the last few times I saw him, I was very concerned. And Chris, showing up with a boyfriend of three years?! Look, even Yuri is talking to someone this evening. Love must be in the air.” 

Love really did seem to be in the air. Yuri spent much of the night speaking to a dark-haired young man, who looked very severe, and even danced with him several times. Chris and Tristan were missing in the gardens rather frequently, Mickey and Emil were glued to each other, Sara and Mila shared a dance that seemed like more of a dress comparison than anything else, and of course, Victor and Yuuri glowed in each other’s arms. From the standpoint of any observer, it was pretty gross.

Sometime near 10:00, Victor and Yuuri were sitting out a dance, and Sara approached them, a bemused look on her face. She gestured to the dancers with her champagne flute. “Well, that escalated quickly.”

“What?” Victor and Yuuri grinned at each other over their answer in unison.

“That. Mickey at Emil. Last night, they danced together, what, three times? Tonight, Mickey is introducing Emil as his boyfriend and they’re kissing in public.” They were, in fact, sharing a loving kiss as the song drew to a close. 

“Is it true love?” 

Sara tore her eyes away from her brother and his beau. “No. They’re just really well matched. I think Mickey is in love with him.”

Yuuri was watching them as they walked off the floor. “I think Emil is in love with Mickey.”

“I think you’re right.” She sighed. “I wanted this to happen, but now I’m afraid of my little brother getting his heart broken.” She noticed the looks on Yuuri’s and Victor’s faces. “I’m three minutes older.”

Victor laughed. “You’re so much older and wiser.” He sipped his champagne. “When are fireworks?”

“Probably in half an hour or so. One of the nice things about Evgenia’s parties is that she doesn’t want people here until dawn. It’s completely acceptable to go to other parties or happily go to bed after a huge magic display.”

“No one will be here much past midnight,” Victor agreed. “Terribly unfashionable on Aunt Jenny’s part, very convenient for everyone who values sleep.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, we never go straight to bed after her parties.” Everyone looked over at Chris as he joined the conversation, his sparkling blue and purple tunic looking like a little fireworks display of its own. “We always go to the Crafty Cat Inn and eat their ridiculously good food and keep drinking until at least 3:00. This is a proven fact.”

“Okay, you’re right. That’s exactly what happens. I always plan to go to bed and then I’m always ravenous.”

“Is that the plan for tonight?” Yuuri asked. “Should we ask Yurio to bring his new friend?”

“That, _lyubov moya_ , is a very sweet idea.” Victor looked at Sara. “If you don’t want to fall into bed, you and the lovebirds are welcome to come too. It’s the cleanest inn in the city.”

“I know I’m going to want to fall into bed, but I bet Mickey and Emil would like to go.”

Later, in the gardens, everyone was entranced by the flowers of fire lighting the sky. Sara was a talented mage; the display included flying birds with tails of sparkling flames, stars falling in showers like rain, and, much to Yuuri’s annoyance, a herd of delicate unicorns galloping across the velvet canvas of the darkness. While the crowd was looking up, Yuuri looked around. Mickey and Emil were standing a few feet from them, arms casually around each other’s waists; Tristan was behind Chris, arms wrapped around him; Yuri was standing almost directly across from them, and as he watched, he slipped his hand into that of his companion. There were dozens of other couples throughout the garden lawn and on the terrace, and Yuuri decided that fireworks must really bring out the romantic sides of people in Rus. He was no better, he was cuddled into Victor’s side, enjoying a warm embrace from the man who held his heart.

The grand finale of the fireworks show was cascades of flowers of every color, filling the air with light and dazzling the eyes. Under the glowing haze, Victor shared a kiss with his beloved, and hoped that the love he felt for Yuuri could carry them through any hard times that might lie ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, lemme explain 'Francia' because that sounds hella stupid. So. When the Francs, a bunch of marauding badasses that were killing everyone, were given the chance to have their own country, they decided to name it after the weapon that made them unstoppable, their throwing axe called 'the francia'. The unpredictable nature of the francia's trajectory when thrown made it really lethal. Hence, my country called 'Francia'. Since none of the countries in the fic are in the right places on a world map, none of them are going by their English names.
> 
> If you are unfamiliar, Magyar is the name of what we call Hungarian. I couldn't spell the name for Hungary in Magyar if I tried. The culture of the people has the same origin in both languages though, they're the decedents of the Huns. Magyar/Hungarian is one of the 3 commonly spoken pre-indoeuropean languages in Europe (the other two are Finnish and Estonian). 
> 
> If you don't think that Alexei and Marina, Mickey and Emil and Yurio and Otabek are getting their own side fics, you are dead wrong. 
> 
> Obviously Chris's outfit is based on his short program costume and Yuuri is wearing Shoma Uno's costume from the Olympics, but the rest of the outfits weren't inspired by anything or anyone in particular. For the upcoming Midsummer Ball, I don't think I'm going to put Chris in his free skate costume because it's just too risque for polite company lol, but I'll do the next best thing and put him in one of Adam Rippon's costumes.


End file.
